Photo: The Queen and her Queue, 16 September 2022, Westminster Hall, Houses of Parliament 725 words / 3 ½ minute read “Are my Jewish subjects happy”? When the late Queen Elizabeth wanted to know about the history of Jews in Britain, she turned to the historian, Sir Martin Gilbert. At an…
Photo: Karl Huhle’s photo of Hitler descending the stairway at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden to meet the former Prime Minister Lloyd George in September 1936; the interpreter Paul-Otto Schmidt is in the centre, lifting his hat, and Joachim von Ribbentrop at the left. 800 words / 4 minute read “I am…
Photo: Barbara Winton with her father, Sir Nicholas Winton, and her book. 430 words / 2 minute read “Do you want to meet Nicholas Winton?” Not an offer people get every day, even an offer made to Martin Gilbert’s groupie and wife. It was 2005, Martin was writing his book on…
Photo: The cover of the first edition of Anne Frank’s diary, The Secret Annexe, published in Amsterdam in 1947. Many editions, translations, adaptations followed. 650 words / 3 minute read Anne Frank’s story has gone through many representations. My favourite is this one: The stage is set as a dwelling that has…
Photo: Part of one of the 32 pages of photos of those killed on 27 August 1942, or 14 Elul 5702 on the Hebrew calendar, corresponding to 10 September 2022, the 80th Yahrzeit, or anniversary of the destruction of Sarny’s Jewish community. 520 words / 2 ½ minute read If a…
Photo: Lenin, still presiding over the Finland Railway Station, St Petersburg, 2007 775 words / 3 ½ minute read On August 5, in a moment of much needed relaxation, Gorbachev flew to the Crimea (to the very Simferopol in which the Crimean Tartars had demanded sovereignty less than two months earlier)…
Photo: The Boys, new edition, coming August 4th 750 words / 3 ½ minute read Fewer than 100,000 Jews survived the death camps, slave labour camps and death marches of Hitler’s Reich. This book is about 732 of those survivors; most of them boys, about eighty of them girls. What these…
Photo: Randolph and Catherine Churchill, on board the Queen Mary off Long Beach, California, 26 May 2016 Those in the Churchill world were saddened to hear of the passing of Catherine Churchill, Randolph’s wife, companion and helpmate. I really only got to know Randolph after Martin became ill, and saw Catherine…
Photo: John Gielgud as Aaron Jastrow, in Herman Wouk’s War and Remembrance 600 words/3 minute read How do we comprehend senseless evil? How do we respond when words lead to violence and to murder? (And with all the advances mankind has created to make life better, why is there even still…
Photo: Wing Commander Jim Wright DFC. 2275 words / 11 minute read 10 January 2008 Wing Commander A J Wright DFC RAF(Ret) to Sir Martin Gilbert via his website: With support from many in Canada, OZ, NZ and UK, but lacking the official help needed from the Bomber Command Association (BCA)…
Photo: The Vrba-Wetzler escape route from Auschwitz to Jewish leaders in Slovakia, to bring the news of the death camp to the Jews of Hungary 770 words / 3 minute read “I couldn’t believe my eyes,” was how Caroline Edwards described to the Congressional Committee the January 6th “war scene” she,…
Photo: “Kasztner at the trial in Israel in 1953 in which a judge condemned him for selling his soul to the devil.” 885 words/4 ½ minute read Was Rudolf Kasztner a traitor to the Jewish people, who saved a few friends while allowing more than 400,000 Jews to be deported…
Photo: The Styr River, Lutsk, just near the synagogue (built in 1626), August 2011 An excerpt from The Righteous 950 words / 5 minute read 1943, in the Lutsk region of Western Ukraine, David Prital tried to find sanctuary from the German extermination campaign of the Jews, their willing collaborators and those…
Photo: 1 November 2015, with Alan Palmer, Oxford 720 words/ 3 ½ minute read One of the early inspirations in Martin’s life and subsequent historical work was his Highgate School History Master, his mentor, his friend, Alan Palmer who sadly died this spring in his 96th year. In 2005, with the 90th anniversary…
Photo: 14 March 2006, with Gerda Klein, Phoenix, Arizona 550 words/ 2 ½ minute read “Shaking my head, I stared at this man who was to me the embodiment of all heroism and liberty. He greeted me. I must tell him from the start, I resolved, so that he has…
Photo: Wendy Higgins with Ben Helfgott, one of the Loughton Boys, and Sir Martin’s book. Maurice Helfgott, Ben’s son, stands behind Wendy. Photo from video. 250 words / 2 minute read A short film, launched on International Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, shows a reunion and return of some of…
Photo: Soviet War Memorial, 1941-1945, Rivne, Ukraine, August 2011 (figures looking to the west) 800 words / 4 minute read On April 1, in Berlin, Hitler moved his headquarters from the Chancellery building to a bunker system behind the Chancellery, and deep below it. That same day, in Moscow, Stalin asked…
Photo: Jewish refugees from Muslim lands who came to Israel, 1947 to 1957, map from In Ishmael’s House 925 words / 4 ½ minute read A little knowledge never stopped anyone from making assumptions. The assumption becomes accepted, then entrenched. I was reminded of this in an article in The Times…
Photo: “Averell Harriman with Churchill at a naval dockyard establishment in Plymouth, 2 May 1941, shortly after a severe German air raid (hence the steel helmet worn by the dockyard worker).” 685 words – 3 ½ minute read “These two gentleman were apparently longing for Germany to commit some overt…
Photo: Entering Volhynia, Ukraine, August 2011 465 words / 2 minute read My mother was born in Poland. Outside of her home and her close circle of friends, she spoke Polish. She attended a Polish gymnasium. She could recite Pan Tadeusz, the classic epic national poem of Poland by Adam Mickiewicz. …