In 1943, SS officers at Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered the formation of an orchestra made up of female prisoners. Forty-seven women and girls were selected to play music as fellow prisoners marched to and from their daily labour.

The orchestra was also required to perform weekly concerts for Nazi officers, while individual musicians were sometimes summoned to play an officer's favourite piece of music.

For almost all the women chosen, their place in the orchestra became their means of survival.

In this moving and thought-provoking lecture, award-winning historian and author Anne Sebba explores the extraordinary story of these women, whose musical abilities offered a chance of survival amid the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Lecturer: Anna Sebba 

Anne Sebba is an award-winning historian, biographer and author of eleven books. A former Reuters foreign correspondent, she has presented documentaries for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 and regularly appears on television discussing her historical research.

Her acclaimed books include That Woman, a biography of Wallis Simpson, Les Parisiennes, winner of the 2016 Franco-British Book Prize, and Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy. Her latest book, The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival, has been published in eight languages.

Anne is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research and a former Chair of the Society of Authors.

Date: Friday 19th February 2027
Time: 10:30 am
Venue: The Rufus Centre, Steppingley Rd, Flitwick, Bedford MK45 1AH

Please arrive a little earlier to allow time to check in and be seated before the lecture begins.

We look forward to welcoming you.