Gitta Sereny facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gitta Sereny
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| Born | 13 March 1921 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | 14 June 2012 (aged 91) Cambridge, England, UK |
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| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Subject | The Holocaust, child abuse, society |
| Notable works | The Case of Mary Bell: A Portrait of a Child Who Murdered (1972) Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth (1995) |
| Notable awards | Duff Cooper Prize (1995) James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1995) Stig Dagerman Prize (2002) CBE (2004) |
| Spouse | Don Honeyman (1948–2011) |
| Relatives | Ludwig von Mises (stepfather) |
Gitta Sereny (born March 13, 1921 – died June 14, 2012) was an Austrian-British writer, historian, and journalist. She became well-known for her interviews with important historical figures. These included Mary Bell, a child who was found guilty of serious crimes, and Franz Stangl, a leader at the Treblinka extermination camp.
Gitta Sereny was born in Austria. She wrote five books, including The Case of Mary Bell: A Portrait of a Child Who Murdered (1972). Another famous book was Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth (1995).
She received several awards for her work. These included the Duff Cooper Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1995 for her book on Albert Speer. In 2002, she won the Stig Dagerman Prize. She was also honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004 for her contributions to journalism.
Contents
Gitta Sereny's Early Life
Gitta Sereny was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1921. Her father, Ferdinand Serény, was a Hungarian nobleman who passed away when she was two years old. Her mother, Margit Herzfeld, was a former actress from Germany. Gitta Sereny's stepfather was the famous economist Ludwig von Mises.
When she was thirteen, her train trip to a school in the United Kingdom was delayed. This happened in Nürnberg, Germany. There, she saw one of the yearly Nürnberg Rallies. These were large gatherings of the Nazi party. After writing about the rally for a school assignment, her teacher gave her Mein Kampf to read. This book helped her understand what she had seen.
After the Nazis took control of Austria in 1938, she moved to France. During World War II, she helped children who had lost their parents. She had to leave France because she was connected to the French Resistance. This group secretly fought against the German occupation.
After World War II
After World War II, Gitta Sereny worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. She helped refugees in Germany. One of her jobs was to reunite children with their birth families. These were children who had been taken by the Nazis to be raised as "Aryans".
This was sometimes difficult because the children did not always remember their original families. However, Gitta Sereny saw how happy families were when their children were returned. She once went with a train full of these children back to Poland.
In 1945, she spent four days observing the Nuremberg Trials. These trials were held for important Nazi leaders. It was there that she first saw Albert Speer. Years later, she would write her book Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth about him. This book won the 1995 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. The book was also made into a play called Albert Speer in 2000.
In 1948, she married Don Honeyman and moved to London. They had two children. Don Honeyman was a photographer for magazines like Vogue and newspapers like The Daily Telegraph. He passed away in 2011.
From the mid-1960s to the 1970s, Gitta Sereny wrote many articles for The Daily Telegraph Magazine. Her articles often focused on young people, social services, and how children relate to their parents and society. This work led her to cover the trial of eleven-year-old Mary Bell. Mary Bell was found guilty of serious crimes. This experience inspired Sereny's first investigative book about the case.
Gitta Sereny's Books
The Case of Mary Bell
The Case of Mary Bell was published in 1972. It came out after Mary Bell's trial. For this book, Gitta Sereny interviewed Mary's family, friends, and the people who helped Mary during her trial.
Into That Darkness
Into That Darkness explored the guilt of Franz Stangl. He was a leader at the Treblinka and Sobibor extermination camps. Gitta Sereny spent 70 hours interviewing him in prison. After she finished, he finally admitted his guilt. He passed away from a heart attack nineteen hours later.
Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth
Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth (1995) is a book about Albert Speer. He was a German minister during World War II. In this book, Sereny looked into how much Speer knew about the Holocaust. During the Nuremberg trials, Speer said he knew nothing about the Holocaust. He avoided a death sentence.
However, Gitta Sereny concluded that Speer must have known. She based this on a letter he wrote after the war. Also, his closest helper attended the Wannsee Conference. At this meeting, details of the plan to harm Jewish people were discussed. Sereny believed his helper would have told him about it.
Cries Unheard
In 1998, Gitta Sereny published her second book about Mary Bell, called Cries Unheard. This book caused some debate in the British press. Sereny shared the money she earned from the book with Mary Bell, who helped with the book. Some people criticized this at first. However, the book quickly became an important resource. It is still used by professionals who work with children facing challenges.
The German Trauma
Gitta Sereny wrote about her final book, The German Trauma (2002). She said the book's chapters were about Germany before, during, and after the Third Reich. They described what she saw and learned from 1938 to 1999. This covered almost her entire life.
Legal Challenge from David Irving
David Irving, a British writer who denied parts of the Holocaust, sued Gitta Sereny. He also sued the Guardian Media Group. This was because of two reviews in The Observer newspaper. In these reviews, Sereny said he purposely changed historical facts. She believed he did this to make the Nazis seem better.
Irving did not like Sereny. He called her "that shriveled Nazi hunter". This was because she successfully showed his claims were wrong. In 1977, Sereny checked a source Irving used. He had claimed that Hitler knew nothing about the "Final Solution". Sereny proved that Irving had left out information that would have gone against his own claim.
Gitta Sereny later said, "That is scary for him." She added, "The difference is that he loves that trough, and I don't." The case did not go to court. However, the Guardian Media Group spent £800,000 preparing its legal defense.
Death
Gitta Sereny passed away on June 14, 2012. She was 91 years old. She died in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge after a long illness.
