Secrets of a Suitcase: The Countess, the Nazis, and Middle Europe’s Lost Nobility w/ Pauline Terreehorst

When the Dutch journalist Pauline Terreehörst bought a vintage Gucci suitcase at Sotheby’s Amsterdam, she had no idea what was inside. The case turned out to be stuffed with fine dresses, furs and lace, plus boxes of postcard albums showing castles and churches in Austria, France, England and Scotland. Like the good journalist she is, Pauline went digging into the background and life of the suitcase’s owner – a wealthy Austrian Countess, Margarethe Szapáry. Pauline’s acquisition turned out to be a gateway into a lost world and its social, cultural and political life – and the basis for a best-selling book, Secrets of a Suitcase, which came out in Dutch in 2022 and will be published by Hurst on 31st October.

Join us the day after the release of the English edition to hear Pauline in conversation with Nicci Gerrard, journalist and co-author of the Nicci French thriller series.

Speakers

Pauline Terreehörst is a journalist and essayist and one of the Wolfson Press Fellowship’s most distinguished alumni. She came to the College in 2000 after a five-year spell as a fashion journalist for a leading Dutch newspaper, de Volkskrant. Following her Fellowship she was successively: Director of the Amsterdam Fashion Institute; Director of the Utrecht Centraal Museum; and, finally, Director of Natlab, Eindhoven’s innovative film theatre. She has published books about film, photography, fashion, new media and urban culture. Her most recent work, Secrets of a Suitcase, came out in Dutch in November 2020 and was a best-seller in the Netherlands.

Nicci Gerrard is a well-known British journalist, author and campaigner who writes best-selling thrillers with her husband Sean French under the name Nicci French. After her father’s slow death from dementia in 2014 she launched John’s Campaign for extended visiting rights for carers of patients with dementia. Her first job was working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield after which she taught literature in Los Angeles and London and founded a women’s magazine. For many years she was on the staff of The Observer – as a literary editor, then a feature writer and executive editor. She covered the trials of Rosemary West, Harold Shipman, and Ian Huntley. She also wrote numerous articles on the disadvantaged and under-represented people of Britain, such as prostitutes and children in care.

Details

The event is open to all and free to attend.

Access

This event will take place in the Dining Hall on the first floor of our main building. There is step-free access with a lift and an accessible toilet.