Author Event - Secret Histories: Philippe Sands and Hadley Freeman In Conversation

Touching upon identity and justice, love, sin and sacrifice, Philippe Sands and Hadley Freeman come together to explore two deeply personal histories of WWII, the Holocaust and its aftermath.

When Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman found a shoebox filled with her grandmother’s treasured belongings, it started a decade-long quest to find out their haunting significance and to dig deep into her extraordinary life. Uncovering a story of extraordinary heroism and courage, the search took Hadley across the course of the twentieth century, and from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island and to Auschwitz.

Philippe Sands’ family perished in the Holocaust, murdered alongside hundreds of thousands of other Jews and Poles living under the authority of the governor of Galicia, SS Brigadesführer Otto von Wächter. After the war, Wächter went on the run, hiding in the Austrian Alps and in Rome under the protection of a Vatican bishop.
But as he made preparations to travel to Argentina on the notorious ‘ratline’, Wächter unexpectedly died. Philippe Sands’ turned detective to uncover the secret history of this Nazi fugitive, unlocking the door to a mystery that haunts Wächter’s youngest child, who believed his father was a good man – what was he doing while in hiding, and what exactly caused his death?

Bringing together the bestselling authors of House of Glass and The Ratline, two extraordinary chronicles that shed light on the darkest chapters of modern times, this free livestreamed event is essential viewing for anyone concerned with questions of history and justice, identity and truth, and the nature of good and evil.

Free or Pay what you feel.  Use the buttton below to register.