The Spiro Ark is pleased to invite you to:

ARTHUR KOESTLER AND THE  THIRTEENTH  TRIBE

A lecture by Mátyás Sárközi chaired by Prof George Gomori

Arthur Koestler (1905-1983) was born in Budapest. After leaving Hungary for Vienna with his family at the age of fourteen, he was educated at Vienna University and became a journalist in Berlin. Being an enthusiastic Zionist took him to Palestine as being a Communist took him to the Soviet Union. He served as a reporter  in the Spanish Civil War and in 1940 settled in England for the rest of his life.

His Darkness at Noon assured him a place in literary and political history: an assault on Communism – the god that failed him.

In 1976 Koestler published The Thirteenth Tribe, a speculative work which suggested that the greater part of modern Jewry, the Askenazim, are descendants of the Khazars, a Turkish-speaking people along the lower Volga who were converted to Judaism in the eight century CE. The ruling class apparently adopted Judaism. But how true is the theory that the Judaized Khazars were the ancestors of many of the Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia?

The work also appears to refute Hitler’s racial theory about the Jews.

Mátyás Sárközi is a Hungarian writer, an expert on Arthur Koestler’s life and works. He arrived in Britain in 1956 and worked in the BBC Hungarian Section for forty years. He has published sixteen books in Hungarian and two in English, including The Play’s the Thing.The Life of Ferenc Molnár, a biography of the the author’s maternal grandfather.  

Tuesday 6th March 2012, 7:30pm

VENUE: The Spiro Ark’s Centre, 25-26 Enford Street W1H

Tickets: Ł10 (the price includes light refreshments)

Email education@spiroark.org Website: www.spiroark.org T: 0207 723 9991

Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music,
Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BS
(Nearest Tubes: South Kensington and Gloucester Road)

Once again, the UK-EU Societies are delighted to present a concert showcasing outstanding young musicians and singers selected by the Royal College of Music who will perform a mainly classical programme to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of HM The Queen.

For those who have not visited the venue before, the Britten Theatre is part of the Royal College of Music, although it has its own entrance. It is situated behind the Royal Albert Hall. It was designed by Sir Hugh Casson and named after Benjamin Britten, a former student of the College, and audiences appreciate its simple elegance, responsive acoustics and intimate tiered auditorium.

An interval glass of wine or soft drink is included in the ticket price. Tickets are £20  for Stalls and Dress Circle, £10  for Upper Circle.

Click here for an application form

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