Blatt: Sir Martin in the news    

Mufti & Hitler

The Farhud Baghdad, 1 June 1941

Photo:  The Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin Al-Husaini and Hitler, the Reich Chancellery, Berlin, 28 November 1941 560 words / 3 minute read … the British forces allowed the defeated Iraqi troops to return to their barracks without surrendering their weapons.  Stung by their humiliating defeat, and already fuelled with

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“God save the King”

Photo: Former Prime Ministers along with members of the Privy Council at the Accession Council ceremony, 10 September 2022.  Photo AP: Kirsty O’Connor/Pool 725 words / 3 ½ minute read When Martin was asked to become a member of the Iraq Inquiry in 2009, in order to have the security level

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When children were “exterminated”

Photo: Martin’s map “Children under four deported to Auschwitz, 17 August 1942”, Routledge Atlas of the Holocaust 585 words / 2 ½ minute read Updated editions of three of Martin’s atlases will be making their appearances in the months ahead.  (Watch this space.)  I am at the moment indexing his Holocaust

July 1939:  Three Jewish refugee children from Germany and Austria, the 'Kindertransport', waiting to be collected by their relatives or sponsors at Liverpool Street Station, London, after arriving by special train.  (Photo by Stephenson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

“The story behind the photo”

Photo: Published in Never Again.  Left to right, Ruth Adamecz, Inge Adamecz (now Hamilton), Hanna Singer at Liverpool Street Station, 7 July 1939. 750 words / 3 ½ minute read Martin’s name on the cover of one of his books does not indicate that he only had his hand in the text. 

Feng Shan Ho

Is Historical Fiction an Oxymoron?

Photo:  Feng Shan Ho, Consul General in Vienna, 1938, Manli Ho Collection 650 words / 3 ½ minute read Martin loved watching old war films and would get together with his friend the military historian Max Arthur, the two of them offering a running commentary with and over the characters in

In Ishmael's House, LA

And now for something completely different

Photo:  In Ishmael’s House makes a cameo appearance in Small Apartments, directed by Jonas Äkerlund, 2012, near James Marsden, playing Bernard 390 words / 2 minute read Literally one of those if-you-blink-you-missed-it moments, Martin made a cameo appearance.  Well, not really Martin, but rather one of his productions. Spotted in a

Lodz Judaica find

Survivors in their own right

Photo:  Krzysztof Hejmanowski, left, the building inspector for the construction company, with Bartlomiej Gwozdz, left, the archaeologist, and some of the artefacts unearthed in Lodz. Photo by AP photographer Rafal Niedzielski 560 words / 3 minute read In January came the news that in December, during a building renovation in the

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The Abraham Accords Bear Fruit

Photo: Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis with museum founder Sheikh Ahmed Al Mansoori at the Crossroads of Civilisation Museum’s Holocaust exhibit in Dubai, November 2022. 360 words / 2 minute read You might have missed it.  But tucked away between the struggle of the brave women of Iran to be allowed to choose

Liebeskind photo

How History is Written

Photo:  Left to right, Rivka Liebeskind (Dolek’s wife), Dolek Liebeskind, Miriam Liebeskind (Dolek’s sister).  Rivka survived. Photo from Ghetto Fighters’ House, Israel. 530 words / 2 ½ minute read “We are fighting for three lines in the history books.”  Adolf (Dolek) Liebeskind, Cracow, 20 November 1942 On December 22, a month

Nov 11

The “War to End All Wars” Ends

Photo: The Western Front, November 11, photo by United States Signal Corps, from First World War 460 words / 2 minute read On the morning of 9 November 1918, the German armistice negotiators reached the Forest of Compiègne.  The German military delegate, Major-General von Winterfeldt, was the son of the man

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Sir Martin’s paper trail

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

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Anne Frank – What do we really need to know?

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

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The Sarny Yizkor Book

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