Gitta Sereny

Gitta Sereny (born March 13 1921) is an Austrian-born British biographer, historian and journalist whose writing focuses mainly on the Holocaust and child abuse. She is a stepdaughter of the economist Ludwig von Mises.

Biography

Sereny was born in Vienna, Austria in 1921. Her father was a Hungarian Protestant, Ferdinand Serény, and her mother was a former actress from Hamburg, Margit Herzfeld, of Jewish origin.

When she was thirteen, her train journey to boarding school in the United Kingdom was delayed in Nuremberg where she attended the Nuremberg rally. After writing about the rally for a class assignment she was given "Mein Kampf" to read by her teacher so she might be able to understand what she saw there. After the Nazi takeover of Austria in 1938, she moved to France were she worked with refugee children during the German occupation until she was warned of her imminent arrest. She fled to the United States. After World War II she worked for the UN with refugees in occupied Germany. Among her tasks was reuniting children -- who had been kidnapped by the Nazis to be raised as "Aryans" -- with their biological families. This could be a traumatic experience because the children did not always remember their original family.

She attended the Nuremberg Trials for four days in 1945 as an observer and it was here that she first saw Albert Speer about whom she would later write the book "Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth". It was for this book that she was awarded the 1995 James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

The Case of Mary Bell

"The Case of Mary Bell" was first published in 1972 following Mary Bell's trial; in it Sereny interviewed her family, friends and the professionals involved in looking after Mary during her trial.

In 1998 she was embroiled in a controversy in the British press when her second book on Mary Bell, "Cries Unheard" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/12/98/review_of_98/newsmakers/231802.stm] was published and she announced that she was sharing the publishing fee, from MacMillan Publishers, with Mary Bell for collaborating on the book. Sereny was initially criticized in the British press and by the British government, though the book quickly became, and remains, a standard text for professionals working with problem children.

David Irving libel case

British historian and Holocaust denier David Irving initiated a libel case against Sereny and the Guardian Media Group for two reviews in "The Observer" where she dismissed some of his historical claims. Irving maintains an especial disdain for Sereny who he calls "that shriveled Nazi hunter". Although the case has not gone to court the cost to "The Observer" for preparing their legal defense amount to £800,000. [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,655883,00.html]

Honors and education

In the 2004 New Years Honours List, Sereny was awarded a CBE for services to Journalism, which she received at a special ceremony at the Foreign Office.

Bibliography

Educated in England and France in addition to her Austrian schooling, her writings include:
* "The Case of Mary Bell: A Portrait of a Child Who Murdered" (1972, second edition 1995)
* "Into That Darkness: from Mercy Killing to Mass Murder, a study of Franz Stangl, the commandant of Treblinka" (1974, second edition 1995)
* "The Invisible Children: Child Prostitution in America, West Germany and Great Britain" (1984)
* "Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth" (1995)
* "Cries Unheard: The Story of Mary Bell" (1998)
* "The German Trauma: Experiences and Reflections, 1938-2001" (2002)

The second edition of "The Case of Mary Bell" contains an appendix on the murder of James Bulger.

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/86021.stm BBC biography]
* [http://www.spikemagazine.com/0201gittasereny.php Spike Magazine Interview]
* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,655883,00.html]
* [http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19960301fabook3867/gitta-sereny/albert-speer-his-battle-with-truth.html Review of "Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth" in Foreign Affairs]