The Ratline: On the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive- Philippe Sands Live Online Q&A with The London Library

Philippe Sands, award-winning author of the bestselling East West Street, introduces his remarkable new book in a very special live 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 end of the war and hunted by multiple international agencies, Wächter went into hiding, helped by his wife, first in the Austrian Alps and then in Rome, where a Vatican bishop gave him refuge. But, just before he could take ‘the ratline’ to Argentina, he unexpectedly died.

A unique and fascinating insight into the life of a Nazi family, based on letters, diaries and government archives, of life on the run, of a the Cold War and espionage in Rome. The Ratline is meticulously researched, a detective story that unlocks the mysteries surrounding Wächter’s extraordinary life and death.

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Philippe Sands is Professor of Law at University College London and a practising barrister at Matrix Chambers, frequently appearing before international courts, including the International Criminal Court and the World Court in The Hague. He is the author of three books, including the Sunday Times bestselling East West Street, winner of the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.

Jewish Book Week is an annual international literary festival, held in London, which brings together writers and speakers from the worlds of history, journalism, philosophy, science, art, music, poetry and fiction in a celebration of ideas. The 2020 festival ran from 29 February to 8 March.