obituaries

Holocaust Historian

Sir Martin Gilbert, author of 80 books, dies.

Jerry Lewis

Jerusalem Post

0

fficial Churchill biographer and
distinguished Holocaust histo-
rian Sir Martin Gilbert died Feb.
3, 2015, at age 78 after a long battle with
cancer.
Gilbert was a prolific writer who
authored more than 80 history books and
atlases, many of which covered Jewish
history and the formation of the State of
Israel. His career started with a book chal-
lenging pre-Second World War history that
caught the eye of Sir Winston Churchill's
son, Randolph, who had started writing a
biography of his father.
This led to an invitation to Gilbert to
join a small team of researchers in 1962,
and when Randolph died in 1968 with just
two volumes completed, Gilbert was cho-
sen to continue the work.
He added six further volumes in the
following years, having been granted com-
plete access to all of Churchill's archives
and files.
As he delved into Churchill's back-
ground, he soon discovered the great man's
love of Israel and this led to a separate
range of books into the Holocaust period
and the time leading to the foundation of
the state. Gilbert branched this out to cre-
ate a market of its own, including a series
of atlases illustrating the ingathering of the
Jewish exiles.

Holocaust Studies
Much of his earlier research involved trav-
eling in his student days to the concentra-
tion camps in Poland that, in turn, sparked
an interest in Jewry from Central Europe
and Russia.
His book The Holocaust: The Jewish
Tragedy is considered one of the most com-
prehensive on the subject.
By the 1980s, Gilbert had joined the
campaign to secure the release of Soviet
Jews, and he particularly followed the
case of Anatoly Shcharansky (later Natan

Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis
Sharansky), which led to
Constance Robinson,
another book about the
and two sons with his said, "British Jewry takes tremendous pride
prominent refusenik.
second wife, Susan
in the achievements of a truly great histo-
They became firm friends
Sachet
rian ... His loss is deeply felt by us all:'
after Sharansky's release.
Speaking about
Israeli ambassador to the U.K. Daniel
The son of Peter and
Israel, Gilbert said,
Taub said that if modern Jewish history has
Miriam Gilbert, Martin was
"It is the country I
a voice, it is the voice of Sir Martin Gilbert.
brought up in a Jewish family
have lived in, taught
in north London.
in, played in, seen
Churchill And The Jews
In one of his last books, Gilbert com-
His father was a jeweler in
my children grow up
bined his two greatest historical passions,
London's Hatton Garden.
in — and hold in the
Churchill and the Jews. Churchill's descrip-
Gilbert was a frequent
highest esteem, for
tion of his vision of the role that could be
visitor to Israel and was often
all its faults, which
are in my view far
played by a Jewish national home could not
called on to speak about the
be more appropriate for Gilbert himself: "A
formation of the Jewish state
outweighed by its
blessing to the whole world, to the Jewish
to audiences around the
virtues:'
Sir Martin Gilbert
race and to Great Britain:'
world, especially on cruises
He said writing
Gilbert was a friend and mentor to many
that he enjoyed.
about the Allied Forces'
young scholars.
With Gilbert's friendships
response to news of the
U.S. historian Deborah Lipstadt said: "It's
across the political spectrum in Britain, he
Holocaust in Auschwitz had been his "most
a great loss. Sir Martin was a good friend.
was a frequent visitor to Downing Street
controversial" effort, while his book The
and helped former Prime Minister Harold
He ignited in countless people an excep-
Holocaust "generated by far the most cor-
tional love of and excitement about history.
Wilson with his own memoirs. He was
respondence and contact with individuals
especially close to former Premier John
"He loved the Jewish people, the Jewish
whom I would never otherwise have met:'
state and the history of both. He moved
Major, with whom he held frequent conver-
Reflecting on his career, he said, "My
effortlessly and joyously in the world of
sations about the direction of policy on the
aim has always been to write history from
Buckingham Palace, the White House,
Middle East. He was awarded a knighthood the human perspective, never to neglect
his local cafe and his neighborhood shul.
in 1995, which was for services to British
the person known as 'the common man:"
history and international relations.
I shall miss him greatly. We all will; she
Tributes in Britain were led by the Prime
said.
His most recent work related to the
Minister David Cameron, who said, "His
inquiry into the Iraq War.
work on Churchill will serve generations to
Sam Sokol contributed to this report.
The government's archives on the war
come:'
were opened for Gilbert, and he spent three
years going through thousands of other-
wise secret documents. He reportedly had
During the coming week, the students of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
finished writing up his findings when, on
will study in memory of the following departed friends.
BETH YEHUDAH
In
addition, Kaddish will be said during the daily minyan.
a trip to Jerusalem in March 2012, he suf-
n-rim n>a na•e ,
fered a cardiac arrhythmia from which he
Henry Hochman
Jack Lublin
26 Shevat Feb. 15, 2015
never fully recovered.
David Morris
Leslie Kay
Michoel Ben-Joseph
Benjamin A. Pollack
Marvin Modlinsky
Harry Neil Brodsky
Gilbert was an honorary fellow of
Fannie Remer
Wolf Cohen
29 Shevat Feb. 18, 2015
Merton College, Oxford, and a distin-
Dorothy S. Rosenthal
Esther Glicksman
Bernard Fidler
Albert P. Seigle
Arthur Louis Goulson
Samuel Gore
guished fellow of Hillsdale College in
David Silver
Riva Gula
Esther Freyda Klaus
Michigan, but he took special pleasure
Asher Smith
Selma (Sadie) Levine
Sofa Kotlyar
being the recipient of Israel's Dan David
Daniel Paul Weinberg
Theodore Lipman
Malka Lazar
Mary Weingarden
Leon Meckler
Sima Kaila Bas Moshe
Prize in honor of his achievements of out-
Alexander Roberg
Steven Zack
Bernard Zaffern
standing scientific, technological, cultural
Jennie Shore
2 Adar Feb. 21, 2015
30 Shevat Feb. 19, 2015
Leon J. Simon
Jack Abramson
Dr Joseph Beninson
or social impact in 2012.
Geoffrey I. Spector
Lilly Bocolor
Benjamin Broncwaig
He married fellow Holocaust histo-
Fannie Yaker
Nathan Dinkin
Louis M. Dunn
Bella Ellias
rian Esther Goldberg in 2005. He had
27 Shevat Feb. 16, 2015
Erna Elsch
Evelyn Gruber
R. Edward Berman
Tillie Epstein
one daughter with his first wife, Helen
Harry Kahn

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Fanny Bokhaut
Ernest H. Chayet
Melvin Earl Duchan
Sophie Engelman
Saralee Gordon
Ruben Grevnin
Rose Hershman
Rudolf Rib

28 Shevat Feb. 17, 2015

Jacob Butensky
Max Cohen
Natalie Freedland
Albert Kanfer
Max Kaplan

Chashe Miriam Levenson
Mollie Masserman
Marvin Niskar
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Leo Nathan Spector
Abraham Wolok

1 Adar Feb. 20, 2015

Joseph Berg
Isadore Domnitch
Joseph Dorfman
Morris Gould
Max Harris

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Frank Erwin Leiderman
John Markowitz
Mary Olstein (Sorkin)
Rebecca Pearlstein
Henry Rich
Arline Goldfarb Schafer
Ben Solomon
Abie Stein
Jennie Puckovitsky Tamaren
Louis Waltman
Gussie Wedgle

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Obituaries

February 12 • 2015

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