Photo: One of the new maps added to the 4th edition 400 words – 2 minute read In most parts of the inhabited world April brings the promise of renewal, spring with flowers bursting in colours not seen during the wet and stormy days of winter. In the southern hemisphere…
Photo: Rudolf Vrba, about the time I first met him 550 words / 3 minute read “Can you give me some biographical information – I am introducing you.” “Martin Gilbert: Auschwitz and the Allies” came the answer back. I had invited Rudolf Vrba to give the 50th anniversary address at…
Photo: Sir Martin’s map of the Vrba Wetzler escape route 350 words – 1 ½ minute read The hide-out was a gap in the woodpile, made up of wooden boards. These boards were being stored as part of the building material for the extension of the camp. Before the inmates…
375 words/1 ½ minute read Martin claimed he got the job because his employer realised he lived on the bus route to UCL. It was getting late in the summer and the professor who was meant to teach the MA students Holocaust history at University College, London that autumn had…
Photo: Sir Martin’s photo of the single-track line leading to Auschwitz from the cover of his first edition 380 words / 1 ½ minute read The material I prepared for the journey related to the history of the places we would visit, both before and during the war. We would…
315 words / 1 ½ minute read “It is my duty, however, for I am sure you would wish me to state the facts as I see them to you, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in…
Photo: American bombing of German industrial sites, February 1944 Follow the new Spielberg series “Masters of the Air” with your copy of Sir Martin’s Second World War Atlas, with maps such as “The United States ‘Big Week’ Bombing Offensive, 19-25 February 1944”, below. “This is the dawning of a day…
Photo: The cover of the new edition of Barbara’s biography of her father, and the film of the same name. 350 words / 1 ½ minute read In 2013 Sir Nicholas Winton wrote this Preface to his daughter Barbara’s book “If It’s Not Impossible”: “I have discovered things from reading…
Photo: The surnames of children Nicholas Winton brought to Britain 350 words / 1 ½ minute read To help Jewish children in Czechoslovakia, the Children’s Section of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia had been formed immediately after the German annexation of the Sudetenland. Although these children were not…
Photo: Tower Hamlets Environment Trust plaque, 3 Dock Street, E1 London 875 words/4 ½ minute read In the last week of September 1936 the British Union of Fascists (the BUP) announced its intention to mount a show of strength in the East End of London on the afternoon of Sunday…
450 words/2 minute read In June 1941 the Germans invaded Russia and the horrifying events … began. British Intelligence authorities were able to read many dozens of the top-secret radio circuits, messages being sent from Germany to the front, and from the front to Berlin. Of some 120 circuits, probably…
Photo: “The Search for Agreement, February-April 2005”. Note two grey areas in the centre of the map – the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, connected by the River Jordan, and the grey area on the left side, the Mediterranean Sea. “From the river to the sea” means from…
Photo: The 5 atlases donated and scooped up Five of Sir Martin’s atlases were donated for auction to ArtsPlace, a vibrant visual and musical venue in Canmore, Alberta. Going well over the suggested starting bid, the group added to the success of the annual auction and will help to ensure…
Photo: Map from In Ishmael’s House showing 9 of the 11 Arab countries (excluding Iran and Afghanistan) from which Jews were expelled between 1947 and 1957, called “The Second Exodus”. Martin’s note corrected the Egypt numbers to “at least 45,000”. 865 words / 4 minute read On 24 November 1947 the…
Photo: The Partition Plan decided by the July 1937 Peel Commission for two separate states, one Jewish, one Arab. The Jews reluctantly accepted the plan; the Arabs rejected it. 510 words / 2 ½ minute read The October 7th savage attack on Israel by Hamas that caused the brutal murder…
Photo: October 1973, Martin and a captain on the Golan Heights 650 words / 3 minute read In October 1973, Martin was in Israel and kept a personal diary of his time there. As he had a rented car he volunteered to help. On October 20, he drove a group…
Photo: Martin “in the field” describing the events that happened there. 285 words / 2 minute read It was November, damp, foggy, grey seeping in to every corner. I followed Martin along a straight path cut between green fields which stretched off into the fog. No idea where we are…
Photo: Britain and the Jewish National Home: Pledges and Border Changes, 1917-1923, from Sir Martin’s Atlas of the Arab-Israel Conflict 510 words / 2 ½ minute read Negotiations with the Arab leaders beyond Palestine were being carried out by T. E. Lawrence, who informed Churchill on 17 January that he…
Photo: Martin “in the field” describing the events that happened there. 285 words / 2 minute read It was November, damp, foggy, grey seeping in to every corner. I followed Martin along a straight path cut between green fields which stretched off into the fog. No idea where we are…
Photo: Page 1 of the previous, 4th edition index of places which I used as a base – yellow highlights mean the map listing is correct; orange highlights mean I ran out of yellow highlight ink; red checks are against the publisher’s proof copy, and the barely legible notes are…