Provocations, or Difficult Conversations in the Home of the Talking Cure
A series of events curated by Rachel Cooke that bring some of the sharpest minds and most engaging stories and topics of our times to be explored and discussed in Sigmund Freud’s final home.
In tonight’s event, Anne Sebba will discuss her latest book, The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz, with Rachel Cooke.
“What would you do to survive and what might be the price?” – Anthony Horowitz
Anne Sebba’s The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz tells the harrowing and astonishing story of the only all-female orchestra in the Nazi prison camps. Formed in 1943, the orchestra was comprised of nearly fifty women and girls from eleven nations, forced to play music for SS officers and fellow inmates under brutal and dehumanising conditions. While performing in the orchestra saved their lives, it raised profound moral and emotional questions that Sebba explores with care and sensitivity.
Drawing on meticulous research and first-hand accounts, Sebba reveals the stories of these extraordinary women, including Alma Rosé, the niece of Gustav Mahler, who conducted the orchestra, and Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, its teenage cellist and last surviving member.
This event offers a unique opportunity to reflect on themes of survival, resilience, and the power of music amidst unimaginable atrocities.
SPEAKERS
Anne Sebba FRSL is the prize-winning author of eleven books, including the best-selling That Woman: A Life of Wallis Simpson and Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died in the 1940s, which won the Franco-British award. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, Anne is renowned for her meticulous research and compelling storytelling. Her latest book, The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz, combines personal testimonies and archival research to explore a deeply moving and complex chapter of Holocaust history.
Rachel Cooke is an award-winning journalist, columnist for The Observer, and television critic for The New Statesman. Her essays are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3, including her recent series On Disappointment. Rachel is the author of Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties (Virago) and Kitchen Person (W&N). She also edited The Virago Book of Friendship, published in 2024.
Tickets include:
• A welcome drink
• A book signing
• Special after-hours viewing of the Museum
Freud Museum Members and Patrons receive 20% off the standard ticket price on all events, courses, conferences, and On Demand programming.
Tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE.
The event will be held on the first floor of the Museum. Unfortunately, the Freud Museum does not currently have step-free access. Advance booking is highly recommended, as capacity is limited.
The purpose of this event is to raise funds for the Freud Museum London, which receives no regular public income.
