The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz

Reviews / Votes

Impressive . . . 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 -- Simon Heffer * TELEGRAPH * A wonderful achievement, truly superb. The horrific reality of Auschwitz emerges so clearly through the lens of this one orchestra and its extraordinary personalities. A vital contribution to the literature of the Shoah on the one hand, but also a book about art, about how wondrous things can bloom and grow in terrible places -- STEPHEN FRY 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 * SPECTATOR * Deeply affecting . . . What makes The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz so powerful is its unswerving commitment to detail. Sebba ensures that every woman's name, every story, is documented. This is not a faceless tragedy, it is a collection of individual lives, each deserving of remembrance -- Olivia Lichtenstein * MAIL ON SUNDAY * 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 * GUARDIAN * 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 * 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 * As a work of scholarship, it's a formidable achievement . . . Sebba doesn't judge individual motives. She 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 * GRAMOPHONE * An extraordinary account of the musicians who literally played for their lives -- Elisa Bray * JEWISH CHRONICLE * [A] harrowing and illuminating portrait of concentration camp life . . . Sebba writes without sensationalising. An indelible picture of this community of musicians and the ways in which they navigated the abject misery around them . . . scrupulously documented * THE HERALD * 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 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 Anne Sebba brings meticulous research and a brilliant writer's eye to one of the darkest questions of World War II. What would you do to survive and what might be the price? -- ANTHONY HOROWITZ 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 If you read just one book about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, make it this. The author tells a story of how darkness beyond the imagination could never extinguish the light of humanity at its brightest, bravest and best -- ANTHONY SELDON An important addition to our understanding of Auschwitz, of women's experiences during the Shoah, of the power of music to resist the overwhelming forces of dehumanisation and most especially of the apparent paradox that the killers could cherish beautiful music at one moment and then resume their monstrous killing the next. The research is prodigious, the stories gripping. The book 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 -- MICHAEL BERENBAUM, Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies Anne Sebba's groundbreaking study 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 Anne Sebba has done it again. 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 - survival, choice, collaboration, friendship, in the worst of circumstances - with great intelligence and, most of all, with compassion. She dares the reader to stand in the shoes of those who lived through these brutal and appalling times. Rigorously researched and elegantly written, this is the biography of the women's orchestra of Auschwitz we need. Magnificent -- KATE MOSSE Pitch perfect . . . 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 - even save - a life. May these women never be forgotten for their contribution to history -- HEATHER DUNE MACADAM Powerful and important. This superb book tells its story with humanity, insight and scrupulous scholarship. These are stories of determination, survival in the most horrific of circumstances, friendship, and above all the power of hope. Vital and magnificent, this is an unforgettable book about an orchestra of unforgettable women -- KATE WILLIAMS Remarkable * DAILY TELEGRAPH, Best Books of 2025 * An intensely moving book * HISTORY EXTRA, Best Books of 2025 * This is a triumph of stitching together an almost-erased history. It is a gripping narrative that spares no detail, but provides another important witness to an iniquitous moment in recent history. -- Anne Inglis * THE STRAD *