After WW2, Western democracies united in trying to create a new world order protecting human rights, preventing wars and promoting free trade. Philippe Sands in Lawless World has shown how the US –and the UK- have repeatedly broken those rules. In Web of Deceit Barry Lando demonstrates the cynicism and greed driving foreign intervention in Iraq since it was founded and beyond the reign of Saddam: an excellent illustration of Philippe Sands’ thesis. Amongst other thin...

Thomas Buergenthal is a truly remarkable man, now one of the 15 judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, responsible for trying war criminals. He spoke here to Philippe Sands about his journey from Auschwitz to The Hague and his faith in justice. He believes that the recurrence of such atrocities will only be prevented by the international implementation of human rights.

In association with the Pears Foundation.

Prague, 1942. Two men have been enlisted to kill the head of the Gestapo, two Czechoslovak parachutists sent on a daring mission by London to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the principal architect of the Final Solution. Laurent Binet joins us from France to discuss his debut novel HHhH, and to ask, when you are a novelist writing about real people, how do you resist the temptation to make things up? Heydrich’s boss is Heinrich Himmler but everyone in the SS says “Himmler’s bra...

Nicholas Winton, regarded as Britain’s Schindler, was a young stockbroker in 1938 when he masterminded an operation to rescue 669 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. His daughter Barbara Winton shares with Philippe Sands the motivations that led her father to undertake such a dangerous quest and the difference that even one person can make to combat the forces of evil.

In association with the Second Generation Network

Ingrid Carlberg, winner of the prestigious August Prize for her seminal biography, Raoul Wallenberg, is joined by Philippe Sandsto explore the extraordinary life and unique contribution of this ‘Righteous Man’. As Sweden’s Special Envoy to Budapest in 1944, Wallenberg’s heroism and ingenuity at the height of the Holocaust saved countless lives while ultimately costing him his own. Henry Goodman read extracts from the biog...

In a last-minute change to the advertised event, Philippe Sands discusses his book East West Street and the images that were significant in its writing.

In association with Index on Censorship.

Due to the developing situation around Covid-19, this event has been postponed until further notice. Ticket-holders will receive direct communication from The London Library International human rights lawyer Philippe Sands discussed his phenomenal BBC series, The Rat Lines, the story of the post-war Nazi escape route out of Europe. He focused on the intriguing tale of Otto von Wächter, governor of Nazi occupied Krakow and Galicia, indicted for murder, but who escaped justice....

The grand finale of Jewish Book Week 2019, in partnership with World Jewish Relief, is a celebration of the power of words. A stellar line-up, featuring Henry Goodman, Nicholas Hytner, Jason Isaacs, Brian Leveson, Emily Maitlis, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jay Rayner, Philippe Sands, Janet Suzman and Zoe Wanamaker, will read poems, letters and speeches, stretching from the beginnings of Jewish history, right up to the present day. Prepare to be piqued and provoked, dazzled and delighted. M...

Do judges use the power of the state for the good of the nation? Or do they create new laws in line with their personal views? When newspapers reported a court ruling on Brexit, senior judges were shocked to see themselves condemned as enemies of the people. But, faced with dreadful legal and moral dilemmas, judges cannot avoid hard choices. Our panel, former Justice of the UK Supreme Court and Master of the Rolls John Dyson, Barrister Dinah Rose,  Philippe Sands, Professor of ...

Philippe Sands, award-winning author of the bestselling East West Street, introduces his remarkable new book in a very special live online Q&A presented by The London Library in partnership with Jewish Book Week. The Ratline is the story of Otto von Wächter and his wife Charlotte. As Nazi Governor of Galicia, he presided over a territory in which hundreds of thousands of Jews and Poles were killed. Indicted for ‘mass murder’ at the ...