Two Sisters

Rosie Whitehouse provides a poignant account of two young women – one of them her own mother-in-law – and their miraculous escape from the murderous authorities of Vichy France.

About the event

When the Nazis invaded France in 1940, Marion and Huguette Müller’s family was torn apart. After their mother was deported to Auschwitz, the two young Jewish women fled to the Alpine skiing town of Val d’Isère, where they were rescued by an incredibly courageous doctor.

In her new book, ‘Two Sisters’, Rosie Whitehouse traces decades-old mysteries of the Müller sisters’ story, seeking closure and justice for her family and the doctor’s. Why did he shelter them? Who had betrayed their mother? How did this national tragedy happen?

Whitehouse’s discoveries raise deep moral questions about France’s Holocaust, with urgent resonance for today’s politics. She pieces together not only how the sisters were saved, but how so many others were lost.

From villagers to Vichy officials, antisemitism to resistance, this is a sweeping yet intimate history of French choices before, during and after the Nazi occupation; and a moving, gripping tale of forged documents, narrow escapes, one family’s trauma and the grace of human connection.

Additional information

This event is eligible for our 20% ticket bundle discount.

Book tickets to three or more different events across the festival and you can save 20%. Tickets must be purchased in the same transaction and the discount will automatically be applied within the basket.

Entry to this event is via London Gate.

About the speaker

Rosie Whitehouse is a journalist who writes about Holocaust survivors for BBC Online, the ‘Observer’, ‘Tablet’, ‘The Jewish Chronicle’ and ‘Haaretz’. She is the author of ‘The People on the Beach’ and the Bradt guide to Europe’s Holocaust memorials, museums and sites.