# Gitta Sereny > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gitta_Sereny > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gitta_Sereny.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gitta_Sereny > Source revision: 1356329364 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Austrian-British writer and historian (1921–2012) Gitta Sereny CBE Born 13 March 1921 Vienna, Austria Died 14 June 2012(2012-06-14) (aged 91)[1] Cambridge, England, UK Occupation Writer historian journalist 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) "Into That Darkness, an examination of conscience" (1974) 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**, [CBE](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) (13 March 1921 – 14 June 2012) was an Austrian-British [biographer](/source/Biographer), historian, and [investigative journalist](/source/Investigative_journalist) who became known for her interviews and profiles of infamous figures, including [Mary Bell](/source/Mary_Bell), who was convicted in 1968 of killing two children when she herself was a child, and [Franz Stangl](/source/Franz_Stangl), the [commandant](/source/Commandant) of the [Treblinka extermination camp](/source/Treblinka_extermination_camp). Born and initially raised in Austria, she was the author of five books, including *The Case of Mary Bell: A Portrait of a Child Who Murdered* (1972) and *Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth* (1995). Sereny was awarded the [Duff Cooper Prize](/source/Duff_Cooper_Prize) and the [James Tait Black Memorial Prize](/source/James_Tait_Black_Memorial_Prize) for her book on [Albert Speer](/source/Albert_Speer) in 1995, and the [Stig Dagerman Prize](/source/Stig_Dagerman_Prize) in 2002. She was appointed a [Commander of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in 2004 for services to journalism. ## Biography Sereny was born in [Vienna](/source/Vienna), [Austria](/source/First_Republic_of_Austria), in 1921. Her father was a Hungarian Protestant [aristocrat](/source/Aristocracy_(class)), Ferdinand Serény, who died when she was two. Her mother was a former actress from [Hamburg](/source/Hamburg), Margit Herzfeld, of German-Jewish background.[2] Gitta Sereny's stepfather was the economist [Ludwig von Mises](/source/Ludwig_von_Mises).[3] When she was thirteen, her train journey to a [boarding school](/source/Boarding_school) in the United Kingdom was delayed in [Nürnberg](/source/N%C3%BCrnberg), where she attended one of the annual [Nürnberg rallies](/source/Nuremberg_rallies). After writing about the rally for a class assignment, she was given *[Mein Kampf](/source/Mein_Kampf)* to read by her teacher so she might be able to understand what she saw there. After the Nazi [takeover of Austria](/source/Anschluss) in 1938, she moved to [France](/source/France), where she worked with orphans during the [German occupation](/source/German_occupation_of_France_during_World_War_II) until she had to flee the country because of her connection to the [French Resistance](/source/French_Resistance).[4] After [World War II](/source/World_War_II), she worked for the [United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration](/source/United_Nations_Relief_and_Rehabilitation_Administration) with refugees in [Allied-occupied Germany](/source/Allied-occupied_Germany). Among her tasks was reuniting with their biological families children who had been [kidnapped by the Nazis](/source/Kidnapping_of_children_for_forced_Germanization_by_Nazi_Germany) to be raised as "[Aryans](/source/Aryan_race)".[5] This could be a traumatic experience because the children did not always remember their original family, but when she accompanied a train-load of such children back to Poland she saw the delight of the original family members at the restoration of the children.[5] She attended the [Nürnberg trials](/source/Nuremberg_trials) for four days in 1945 as an observer, and it was here that she first saw [Albert Speer](/source/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](/source/James_Tait_Black_Memorial_Prize). The book was also later adapted by [David Edgar](/source/David_Edgar_(playwright)) as the play *[Albert Speer](/source/Albert_Speer_(play))* and directed by [Trevor Nunn](/source/Trevor_Nunn) at the National Theatre in 2000.[6] She married [Don Honeyman](/source/Don_Honeyman) in 1948 and moved to London, where they raised their two children. Don Honeyman (who died 1 June 2011) was a photographer, who worked for *[Vogue](/source/Vogue_(magazine))*, *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)* and *[The Sunday Times](/source/The_Sunday_Times)*, among other publications. The poster of [Che Guevara](/source/Che_Guevara) on a red background[7] (1968) is one of his best known creations. From the mid-1960s and throughout the 1970s, she wrote extensively for *The Daily Telegraph Magazine* under the editorship of John Anstey.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] These articles were often about young people, the social services, children and their relationships with their parents and society. This led to her covering the trial of eleven-year-old [Mary Bell](/source/Mary_Bell) (found guilty of murdering two children) and would further lead to her first investigative book on this case.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] ## Writing ### Books *The Case of Mary Bell* was first published in 1972 following [Mary Bell](/source/Mary_Bell)'s trial; in it Sereny interviewed her family, friends and the professionals involved in looking after Mary during her trial. This book was edited by [Diana Athill](/source/Diana_Athill) who would also edit Sereny's *Into That Darkness*. *Into That Darkness* (also following an initial article for the Telegraph magazine) was an examination of the guilt of [Franz Stangl](/source/Franz_Stangl), the commandant of the [Treblinka](/source/Treblinka) and [Sobibor](/source/Sobibor) extermination camps.[8] She spent 70[9] hours interviewing him in prison for the article and when she had finished he finally admitted his guilt; he died of a heart attack nineteen hours later. *Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth* (1995) is a biographical work on [Albert Speer](/source/Albert_Speer), German minister of Armaments during World War II. In it, Sereny explores how much Speer knew about [the Holocaust](/source/The_Holocaust). During the [Nuremberg trials](/source/Nuremberg_trials), Speer had avoided a death sentence, claiming all the while that he knew nothing of the Holocaust. However, Sereny concludes that Speer must have known based on a letter he wrote to the Jewish community in South Africa (after the war), and the fact that his closest assistant attended the [Wannsee Conference](/source/Wannsee_Conference) (where the details of the genocide of the Jews were worked out) and could not have failed to inform him about the proceedings. In 1998, her second book on Mary Bell, *Cries Unheard*,[10] caused controversy in the British press because she shared the publishing fee, from Macmillan Publishers, with Mary Bell for collaborating on the book. Sereny was initially criticized[11] 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. Sereny wrote of her final book, *The German Trauma* (2002): "The nineteen chapters in this book, all intimately concerned with Germany before, during and since the end of the Third Reich, describe more or less sequentially what I saw and learned from 1938 to 1999, thus almost over a lifetime."[12] ### David Irving libel suit British [Holocaust denier](/source/Holocaust_denial) [David Irving](/source/David_Irving) initiated a [libel](/source/Libel) case against Sereny and the Guardian Media Group for two reviews in *The Observer* where she asserted he deliberately falsified the historical record in an attempt to rehabilitate the Nazis. Irving maintained a personal animosity for Sereny, whom he calls "that shriveled [Nazi hunter](/source/Nazi_hunter)", for successfully refuting his claims since the publication of his book *Hitler's War*. In 1977, Sereny cross-checked the source he cited for his assertion that Hitler knew nothing about the "[Final Solution](/source/Final_Solution)", and therefore could not have ordered the "Final Solution". Gitta Sereny proved that Irving had made an additional assertion which would have contradicted his claim; "I know many of the same people as he does who were of Hitler's circle…". Ms. Sereny later said, "That is scary for him. He says, 'we jostle at the same trough'. The difference is that he loves that trough, and I don't. There is, I think, for him [David Irving], despair in all of this." Although the case did not go to court, the cost to the Guardian Media Group of preparing its legal defence amounted to £800,000.[13] ## Death Gitta Sereny died on 14 June 2012 at age 91 while in [Addenbrooke's Hospital](/source/Addenbrooke's_Hospital), Cambridge, after a long illness.[14] ## Bibliography Her writings include: - [*The Case of Mary Bell*](https://books.google.com/books?id=l48srhWbby0C). Vol. 158 of Pimlico (Series). United Kingdom: Random House. 13 February 1995. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7126-6297-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7126-6297-0). - *Into That Darkness: from Mercy Killing to Mass Murder, a study of [Franz Stangl](/source/Franz_Stangl), the commandant of [Treblinka](/source/Treblinka)* (1974, [second edition 1995](https://books.google.com/books?id=ntgT48CY1wwC)) - *The Invisible Children: Child Prostitution in America, West Germany and Great Britain*, London: Deutsch (1984) - *Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth* (1995, [1996 paperback](https://books.google.com/books?id=_Z3gKDdRgL8C)) - *Cries Unheard: The Story of Mary Bell* (1998) - *The German Trauma: Experiences and Reflections, 1938–2001* (2002)[15] The second edition of *The Case of Mary Bell* contains an appendix on the [murder of James Bulger](/source/Murder_of_James_Bulger). ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Tel_o_1-0)** ["Gitta Sereny"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9339865/Gitta-Sereny.html). *Telegraph*. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Schoenfeld, Gabriel (23 December 2001). ["Into That Darkness, Again"](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/23/books/into-that-darkness-again.html). *The New York Times*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** *The legacy of Ludwig von Mises*, by Peter J. Boettke, Peter T. Leeson, p. xiv 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Gitta Sereny: The German Trauma – Spike Magazine"](http://www.spikemagazine.com/0201gittasereny.php). 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-cruel_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-cruel_5-1) [Lynn H. Nicholas](/source/Lynn_H._Nicholas), *Cruel World: The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web*, p. 511 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-679-77663-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-679-77663-X) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Albert Speer – Productions"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120616123723/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/1245/productions/albert-speer.html). National Theatre. Archived from [the original](http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/1245/productions/albert-speer.html) on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Mandy Honeyman (2 July 2006). ["Don Honeyman with the 1st Che poster he created | Flickr – Photo Sharing!"](https://www.flickr.com/photos/mkh/179617178/). Flickr. Retrieved 18 June 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Neild, Barry. ["Gitta Sereny dies at 91"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/18/gitta-sereny-dies-at-91?newsfeed=true), *The Guardian*, 18 June 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Sereny, G. (1983). Into that darkness. 1st ed. New York: Vintage Books, p.14. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Newsmakers | April: Gitta Sereny"](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/12/98/review_of_98/newsmakers/231802.stm). *BBC News*. 22 December 1998. Retrieved 24 June 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["BBC News | UK | Gitta Sereny: Biographer with bite"](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/86021.stm). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** The German Trauma pp xi Introduction by Gitta Sereny 1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Tim Adams (24 February 2002). ["Memories are made of this"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/feb/24/historybooks.features). *The Observer*. Retrieved 28 September 2010. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Cahal Milmo (30 April 2012). ["Veteran journalist Gitta Sereny dies age 91 – News – People"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/veteran-journalist-gitta-sereny-dies-age-91-7858696.html). *The Independent*. Retrieved 18 June 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Sereny, Gitta (2002). *The healing wound: experience and reflections, Germany, 1938–2001* (Reprint ed.). New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-393-32382-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-393-32382-X). ## External links - [BBC biography](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/86021.stm) - [Interview](http://www.spikemagazine.com/0201gittasereny.php) in *[Spike Magazine](/source/Spike_Magazine)* - [Stolen Children](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/children.html) by Gitta Sereny - [Review of *Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth*](https://web.archive.org/web/20081218103553/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19960301fabook3867/gitta-sereny/albert-speer-his-battle-with-truth.html) in *[Foreign Affairs](/source/Foreign_Affairs)* - [Two half-hour ABC interviews with Sereny about Speer and Mary Bell](http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/21-june-2012/4084684) - [1998 Interview with Gitta Sereny](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047bvj5) *[In the Psychiatrist's Chair](/source/In_the_Psychiatrist's_Chair)*, [BBC](/source/BBC), 21 June 2014 - [*My Years with Ludwig von Mises*](https://mises.org/sites/default/files/My%20Years%20with%20Ludwig%20von%20Mises_2.pdf), Margit von Mises. [Arlington House Publishers](/source/Arlington_House_Publishers), NY. 1976 5 August 2014 v t e List of Stig Dagerman Prize winners 1996: John Hron (posthumously) 1997: Yaşar Kemal 1998: The Swedish Public Library 1999: Ahmad Shamlou 2000: Roy Andersson 2001: Elsie Johansson 2002: Gitta Sereny 2003: Lukas Moodysson 2004: Elfriede Jelinek 2005: Göran Palm 2006: Sigrid Kahle 2007: Lasse Berg 2008: J. M. G. Le Clézio 2009: Birgitta Wallin and magazine Karavan 2010: Eduardo Galeano 2011: Judit Benedek and the theatre project SOS-Romer 2012: Nawal El Saadawi 2013: No one is illegal 2014: Anders Bodegård 2015: Suzanne Osten 2016: Adunis 2017: Anders Kompass 2018: Amos Oz 2019: Britta Marakatt-Labba 2020: Magda Gad 2022: Maria Kalesnikava Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States France BnF data Japan Italy Czech Republic Spain Netherlands Norway Sweden Poland Israel Catalonia Belgium Academics CiNii Artists FID People Trove LibraryThing Deutsche Biographie DDB Other IdRef Open Library Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gitta Sereny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gitta_Sereny) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gitta_Sereny?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.