Talk:Gitta Sereny

Birth year
This article says Sereny was born in 1921, and that she "read Hitler's Mein Kampf at the age of 11 and heard him address a rally in Vienna four years later." She was 11 in 1932 so she would have heard Hitler speak in Vienna in 1936 - except that Hitler did not enter Vienna until 1938. Could someone check this story? Adam 06:22, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Good call; according to the history of this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gitta_Sereny&action=history) Sereny used to lie about her age so 13 and not 11 would be the correct age.--Sus scrofa 14:14, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks. It was probably his giant rally in the Heldenplatz in February, after the Anschluss. Most of Vienna (except the Jews) was there. Adam 01:29, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Irving libel trial
I've cut this from the article:


 * Holocaust Denier David Irving sued Sereny and the The Guardian for libel for an article she wrote dismissing some of his historical claims. Irving maintains an especial disdain for Sereny who he calls "that shriveled Nazi hunter".

I don't know if the trial ever happened, I don't remember any coverage in the press. All I've been able to find is this, reporting that he was going to try. Irving planned to sue, but after the Lipstadt libel trial was decided against him, he may have been prevented - The Observer may have had the action struck out. (The paper was the Observer, not the Guardian, BTW). Squiddy | (squirt ink?)  15:43, 20 March 2007 (UTC)


 * According to Irving's own web site he at least issued a Statement of Claim on the matter. I'm not sure how significant that is however. Also, the suit is aimed at the Guardian Media Group which owns The Observer (and The Guardian) which seems to be the source of confusion on that point.--Sus scrofa 17:51, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm rewording the section and putting it back in. It was a public (and fairly costly) row that I think is of encyclopedic interest.--Sus scrofa 19:19, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Still not satisfying as the article takes sides, which it shouldn't. --41.151.30.75 (talk) 19:50, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

Nationality
The first sentence states that she was born in Austria, but is British. It then goes on to say that her father was Hungarian; her mother was a German. She is in the Hungarian writers category, but is not in any other nationality category. Which nationality does she actually currently hold? Werdnawerdna (talk) 19:52, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Jewish?
The article states that her mother was Jewish, but does not state whether or not she is Jewish herself. She is not in any Jewish categories. Most (but not all) people of a Jewish mother are themselves Jewish - is she? Werdnawerdna (talk) 19:52, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
 * According to Jewish law, a child born to a Jewish mother is Jewish. This also means that if she had stayed in Occupied Europe, she would have later been sent to the death camps when or if this was discovered.TL36 (talk) 04:52, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Actually, the article no longer says this (it only says her mother was of German origin), so without a reliable source stating this, the question is moot.--Sus scrofa (talk) 07:32, 22 August 2012 (UTC) There is a Source listed, but the Srticle in the Link in no way substatiates the Claim Frau Sereny's Mother was Jewish, rather that she married the German Jew Ludwig Von Mises: her Stepfather.2605:E000:35D8:5800:9CEA:4731:D620:13B8 (talk) 06:07, 5 August 2020 (UTC)

Quote about Auschwitz not being an extermination camp?
I had a friendly neo nazi "teach" me that during an interview for the London Times, August 29, 2001, Gitta Sereny said to the reporter:

“Auschwitz was a terrible place, but it was not an extermination camp.“

Do we have more context? Was she referring to Auschwitz I main camp, whose primary function was administrative HQ housing a couple thousand political prisoners mostly, along with a single homicidal gas chamber? Or was she also referring to the exterminnation program in Birkenau with its 6 gas chambers? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:8388:500:D200:71E4:75DE:11A9:E465 (talk) 17:22, 25 February 2017 (UTC)


 * In the interview, Gitta Sereny was trying to shift mainstream attention from exclusively focusing on Auschwitz to the Aktion Reinhard centers of extermination, including Treblinka. Deniers and neo-nazis rip her quote out of context. What Gitta Sereny meant, was that Auschwitz was a different kind of camp to Treblinka. Treblinka was a pure extermination camp, with "death on arrival" being the only purpose of the camp, a small skeleton crew running it, while Auschwitz was a dual purpose extermination (its gas chambers) AND labor camp (for the healthy off the trains who passed Selektion) considering its vast arrays of barracks and the IG Farben industrial plant closeby. Ideally, Sereny should have said "Auschwitz was not just an extermination camp, but also a camp where those that could work were mercilessly exploited via physical labor" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:8388:502:5080:71E4:75DE:11A9:E465 (talk) 02:33, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

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