The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz
A Story of Survival

Quotes

"The research is prodigious, the stories gripping. [The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz] deepens all that we know and shows that examining one subset of the victims of Auschwitz only enhances our understanding of life within the camp – life and death, murder and rescue." —Dr. Michael Berenbaum, Former Project Director US Holocaust Memorial Museum

"Pitch perfect. Sebba has written a symphony of a story, sensitively told and deeply researched. The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz reminds us of the power of music and art, and how the smallest good deed can change a life, even save a life. May these women never be forgotten for their contribution to women’s history." —Heather Dune Macadam, author of 999: The Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz

"One of the most poignant stories to emerge from the horror of the death camps, it is beautifully told by Sebba with her customary sensitivity and eye for telling detail. A book you will never forget." —Julia Boyd, Sunday Times bestselling author of Travellers in the Third Reich

"Anne Sebba brings meticulous research and brilliant writer’s eye to one of the darkest questions of World War Two. What would you do to survive and what might be the price?" —Anthony Horowitz, New York Times bestselling author of Close to Death

“In this superb and timely book about an extraordinary, and often overlooked slice, of WWII history, Sebba succeeds in presenting complex, conflicting and challenging questions... Rigorously researched and elegantly written, this is the biography of the women's orchestra of Auschwitz we need. Magnificent.” —Kate Mosse, New York Times bestselling author of The Taxidermist's Daughter

"Anne Sebba tells this harrowing story with tremendous rigour and care, capturing both the complex horror of the women’s situation and the dignity and bravery with which they faced it. An impressive, important, deeply moving book" –Sarah Waters, New York Times bestselling author of Fingersmith

"If you read just one book about Auschwitz and the holocaust, make it this." —Sir Anthony Seldon, award-winning author of Truss at 10

"These are things and people I care deeply about, and learning more about and re-visiting them in this way has been, quite simply, a balm to my spirit in these troubled times." —Dr. Susan Eischeid, author of Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

"Anne Sebba’s groundbreaking study The Women’s Orchestra Of Auschwitz reminds us of the sheer insanity, perversity and uniqueness of the Holocaust – where some of Europe’s most accomplished citizens, its Jewish musicians, were made to play music as they witnessed their relatives and fellow Jews being gassed." –Tom Gross, former foreign correspondent for The New York Daily News

“An important record of the incomprehensible cruelty perpetrated in Auschwitz, using music as an instrument of torture. But for those who played, it was a path to survival.” ―Victoria Hislop, bestselling author of The Island

“An important book, powerfully written, carefully researched. The frightening and discordant notes of Auschwitz can be he heard through an ensemble of compelling voices, voices we must never forget.” ―Thomas Harding, author of The Einstein Vendetta

“Meticulous research . . . a detailed picture of the orchestra's players. [A] remarkable story . . . The author has done these women proud.” ―Caroline Moorehead, Times Literary Supplement

“Remarkable . . . deft . . . A vivid account of the experiences of the 40 or so women who briefly came together to make the music that saved their lives. Running through this fine book is Sebba's empathy for the impossible moral choices presented to these young women.” ―Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian, “Book of the Day”

"Profoundly moving and rigorously researched Essential reading for anyone interested in Holocaust history, resilience, and the enduring human spirit." ―Library Journal, starred review

“An important and heartbreaking contribution to Holocaust history.” ―Kirkus Reviews

"Nuanced and unsettling... A chilling account of the sublime being twisted to inhumane ends." ―Publishers Weekly

"Remarkable... Sebba’s command of detail is superb. She quite rightly outlines the atrocities of the sadists, psychopaths and savages whom Auschwitz seemed to attract like a magnet; but also the resilience and courage of a group of women who refused to be beaten by evil, and used music to save their lives." —The Telegraph

“Deeply moving . . . This complex story pays fine tribute not only to the women's orchestra but also to their captive audiences, who remained as affected by the music as by the inhumanity that surrounded them.” ― Clare Mulley, The Spectator

"In this deeply affecting book, Sebba reconstructs the experiences of the women, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who played in the orchestra in Auschwitz-Birkenau.... Powerful.... this book reminds us that extremism does not emerge in a vacuum and that dehumanization can happen in increments." —The Scottish Mail on Sunday

“A carefully layered and vividly compelling picture . . . The vile moral maze in which Auschwitz operated, and the shocking possibilities of a casual advantage, are brilliantly covered here, along with the fundamentals of the story.” ―Irish Independent

“An extraordinary account of the musicians who literally played for their lives.” ―Jewish Chronicle

“A compelling biography.” ―WI Life

“Meticulously researched... a harrowing tale of complex moral questions and remarkable human endeavor.” ―Arts Society Magazine

“A well-researched study… also a testimony to the strength of female solidarity in the most wretched circumstances.” ―The Independent

"Harrowing and illuminating... Sebba writes without sensationalising, leaving the stomach-churning facts to speak for themselves... A devastating glimpse into the nature of the concentration camps, and an indictment of the world’s response on learning what the Nazis had done." -The Herald

"[Sebba] presents conflicting perspectives even-handedly, and gives each of her subjects their own voice, even as she details – in unflinching clarity – the constant, often barely believable means by which their captors sought to strip them of their humanity... As compelling as it is horrifying." ―The Gramophone