Anne Sebba

In 1943, German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered that an orchestra should be formed among the female prisoners. Almost fifty women and girls from eleven nations were assembled to play marching music to other inmates – forced labourers who left each morning and returned, exhausted and often broken, at the end of the day – and give weekly concerts for Nazi officers. For almost all of the musicians chosen to take part, being in the orchestra was to save their lives. 

Petworth welcomes the award-winning historian Anne Sebba who tells their astonishing story with sensitivity and care.