Photo: Martin’s map “Deportation and Revolt, October 1944”; the four Jewish girls who smuggled the explosives to those who blew up the crematorium were Roza Robota, Ala Gertner, Ester Wajcblum and Regina Safirsztajn; they were tortured and hung on 6 January 1945. 620 words / 3 minute read At the…

Photo:  Theodor Herzl and his book “AltNeuLand” which is how he described the Land of Israel, as an Old and a New Land. 740 words / 3 ½ minute read This October 7th marks the 80th anniversary of the revolt in Auschwitz-Birkenau when brave Jewish prisoners started an explosion that…

Photo: The Steamship Athenia sunk by a German submarine after Britain entered the war. 325 words /  1 ½ minute read On 3 September 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany, Churchill entered the War Cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty.  Twenty-four hours later he learned that the…

Photo: Tefillin case (leather boxes containing a prayer, worn by men during some communal prayers) that was “Made in Palestine”. 500 words / 2 minute read I remember asking Martin what would have happened had David Ben Gurion, on declaring the State of Israel, decided to keep the name “Palestine”,…

Photo:  Global immigration to Israel, 1948 to 2003, from Sir Martin’s Routledge Atlas of Jewish History 620 words / 3 minute read In 1987, Martin was a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva campaigning for the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate.  What follows is a…

Photo:  Gaza Strip, 1967 to 1972, from Sir Martin’s Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israel Conflict 450 words / 2 ½ minute read The Gaza Strip borders Israel to it’s north and east, and shares a border with Egypt to the south.  That border with Egypt measures 12 kilometres, 7 1/2…

Photo: ‘Shalom, Chaver” Farewell friend.  Illustration from Martin’s book The Story of Israel 600 words / 3 minute read The Declaration of Principles was signed in Washington on 13 September 1993.  Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat were the main signatories.  The signing took place on the lawn of the White…

Photo:  “From Slavery to the Promised Land” from the Routledge Atlas of Jewish History 600 words / 3 minute read I have for you three short (personal) stories: Several years ago, an organisation which sends Holocaust survivors to speak in British schools reported that when an elderly survivor, having spoken…

Photo: Sir Martin’s map:  Jerusalem:  Capital of the State of Israel since 1949 300 words / 1 ½ minute read “On 28 June 1967 the Israeli Government announced the official reunification of the City, whose barbed-wire barriers, anti-sniper walls and road blocks were at once demolished, and all of whose…

Photo: Explanatory text, American Museum of Natural History 370 words / 2 minute read Out with the old – in with the new.  In our throw-away culture, how do we deal with history when our view of the past changes?  Yesterday’s heroes can become today’s losers; yesterday’s villains become today’s…

Photo: Phil Homer being interviewed by Michael David, 29 October 2016, on the high school football field named after him. 700 words / 3 1/2 minute read We were on the cusp of the 1970s, a decade that would see me through high school, university and into a career in…

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…

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…

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 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: 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…