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Martin Gilbert

Sir Martin John Gilbert CBE FRSL (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015)[1][2] was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of 88 books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish history including the Holocaust. He was a member of the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq War.


Martin Gilbert

Gilbert being awarded an honorary doctorate at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel, 2011
Born
Martin John Gilbert

(1936-10-25)25 October 1936
London, United Kingdom
Died3 February 2015(2015-02-03) (aged 78)
London, United Kingdom
EducationHighgate School
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford
St Antony's College, Oxford.
Occupation(s)Historian, author
Known forWinston Churchill's official biography
Twentieth century history
Jewish history

Early life edit

Martin Gilbert was born in London, the first child of Peter Gilbert, a north London jeweller, and his wife, Miriam. The original family name was Goldberg.[3][4] All four of his grandparents had been born in the Pale of Settlement in Tsarist Russia (today's Poland and Lithuania).[3][5][6] Nine months after the outbreak of the Second World War, he was evacuated to Canada as part of the British efforts to safeguard children. Vivid memories of the transatlantic crossing from Liverpool to Quebec sparked his curiosity about the war in later years.[1]

After the war, Gilbert attended Highgate School, where he was taught history by the Balkan expert Alan Palmer, and politics by T. N. Fox.[5] He described himself as being interested in "Jewish things" from a young age, noting that at school he "once or twice got in trouble for my Zionistic activities."[6] He then completed two years of National Service in the Intelligence Corps before going on to study at Magdalen College at the University of Oxford. Gilbert graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in modern history.[4] One of his tutors at Oxford was A. J. P. Taylor. After his graduation, Gilbert undertook postgraduate research at St Antony's College, Oxford.

Career edit

Historian and author edit

After two years of postgraduate work, Gilbert was approached by Randolph Churchill to assist his work on a biography of his father, Sir Winston Churchill. That same year, 1962, Gilbert was made a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and became a part of a circle of academics that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. He spent the next few years combining his own research projects in Oxford with being part of Randolph's research team in Suffolk, who were working on the first two volumes of the Churchill biography. When Randolph died in 1968, Gilbert was commissioned to take over the task, completing the remaining six main volumes of the biography.[7]

Gilbert spent the next 20 years on the Churchill project, publishing a number of other books throughout the time. Each main volume of the biography is accompanied by two or three volumes of documents initially called Companions, and so the biography currently runs to 28 volumes (over 30,000 pages), with another 3 document volumes still planned. Michael Foot, reviewing a volume of Gilbert's biography of Churchill in the New Statesman in 1971, praised his meticulous scholarship and wrote: "Whoever made the decision to make Martin Gilbert Churchill's biographer deserves a vote of thanks from the nation. Nothing less would suffice."[citation needed]

In the 1960s, Gilbert compiled a number of historical atlases. His other major works include a single-volume history on the Holocaust, as well as the single-volume histories First World War and Second World War. He also wrote a three-volume series called A History of the Twentieth Century. Gilbert described himself as an "archival historian" who made extensive use of primary sources in his work.[7] Interviewed by the BBC on the subject of Holocaust research in 2005, Gilbert said he believed that the "tireless gathering of facts will ultimately consign Holocaust deniers to history."[8]

By the 1980s Gilbert's academic attention had also turned towards the Refusenik movement in the Soviet Union.[9] Gilbert authored Jews of Hope: The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today (1984) and Shcharansky: Hero of Our Time (1986), and he presented on behalf of the Soviet Jewry Movement in a variety of contexts, ranging from large forums such as formal representation before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights[10] to smaller forums such as an educational slideshow for the general public on behalf of the Soviet Jewry Information Centre.[11]

In 1995, Gilbert retired as a Fellow of Merton College but was made an Honorary Fellow. In 1999[12] he was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Oxford "for the totality of his published work".[13] In 2000 he received the Guardian of Zion Award from the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar-Ilan University. From 2002, he was a Distinguished Fellow of Hillsdale College, Michigan, and between 2006 and 2007 he was a Professor in the History department at the University of Western Ontario. In October 2008, he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Churchill College.[citation needed]

Gilbert was noted for his endorsement of Bat Ye'or and her Eurabia theory, providing a cover comment for her 2005 book,[14] and has stated that the theory "is 100 percent accurate".[15] One of Gilbert's last books, In Ishmael's House: A History of the Jews in Muslim Lands cited Ye'or with approval several times.[16]

Public service edit

Gilbert was appointed in June 2009 as a member of the British government's inquiry into the Iraq War (headed by Sir John Chilcot). His appointment to this inquiry was criticised in parliament by William Hague, Clare Short, and George Galloway on the basis of scepticism over his neutrality, Gilbert having written in 2004 that George W. Bush and Tony Blair may in the future be esteemed to the same degree as Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.[17][18] In an article for The Independent on Sunday published in November 2009, Oliver Miles, the former British ambassador to Libya, objected to the presence of Gilbert and Sir Lawrence Freedman on the committee partly because of their Jewish background and Gilbert's Zionist sympathies.[19] In a later interview, Gilbert saw Miles's attack as being motivated by antisemitism.[20]

Reception edit

Many laud Gilbert's books and atlases for their meticulous scholarship and his clear and objective presentation of complex events.[21] His book on World War I is described[by whom?] as a majestic, single-volume work incorporating all major fronts—domestic, diplomatic, military—for "a stunning achievement of research and storytelling."[22] Catholic sources describe him as a "fair-minded, conscientious collector of facts."[23]

Gilbert's portrayal of Churchill's supportive attitudes to Jews (in his book Churchill and the Jews) has been criticised, for example, by Piers Brendon[24] and Michael J. Cohen.[25] Furthermore, Tom Segev writes that although Gilbert's book The Story of Israel is written with "encyclopaedic clarity," it suffers from the absence of figures from Arab sources.[26]

Honours and awards edit

In 1990, Gilbert was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 1995, he was awarded a knighthood "for services to British history and international relations".[27] In 2003 Gilbert was awarded the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize by the University of Tübingen.[28][page needed] In 2012, he won the Dan David Prize for his contribution to "History/Biography".[29] The Sir Martin Gilbert Library at Highgate School, where he was a pupil, was opened on 6 May 2014 by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.[30] "I know he helped Lady Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair, but he also helped me a great deal with his insights into history", said Brown. "I know he advised Harold Wilson even before them, but at every point Martin was available and he wanted to believe that the best outcomes were possible. A genuine humanitarian, someone whose writing of history taught him we could always do better in the future if we are able to learn the lessons of history."[31]

Honorary degrees edit

Gilbert received honorary degrees from several universities. These include:[32]

Location Date School Degree
  Missouri 1981 Westminster College Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
  Israel 1989 Bar-Ilan University Doctorate[33]
  Ohio 1992 Hebrew Union College Doctorate
  England 1992 University of Buckingham Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[34]
  England 1999 University of Oxford Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
  District of Columbia 2000 George Washington University Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[35]
  Pennsylvania 2000 Gratz College Doctorate
  New Jersey 2002 Seton Hall University Doctorate
  Ontario 4 June 2003 University of Western Ontario Doctor of Laws (LL.D)[36]
  England 2004 University of Leicester Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[37]
  Israel 2004 Hebrew University of Jerusalem Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)[38]
  Israel 2011 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Doctorate

Fellowships edit

Gilbert was a Fellow of the following institutions:[32]

Personal life edit

Gilbert was the target of a serious attempt by the State Protection Authority of Hungary to recruit him as an agent in the early 1960s. He initially responded warmly, and agreed to go on a Hungarian government-funded trip to Budapest in September 1961, and expressed views about Britain which seemed designed to impress his Hungarian hosts (mixed with some untruths about his background). The Hungarians attempted to intercept the many letters he sent back home during the trip, and were able to work out that Gilbert was lying about being a Communist. When invited to a further meeting in Paris, Gilbert did not show up and eventually when his intended handler defected to the West, the Hungarians gave up. Gilbert never explained the incident himself; writing about it in 2015, Hungarian historian Krisztián Ungváry noted that Gilbert must have realised what was going on, and may have been used by the British intelligence services to plant a double agent.[40]

In 1963, he married Helen Constance Robinson, with whom he had a daughter. He had two sons with his second wife, Susan Sacher, whom he married in 1974. From 2005, he was married to the Holocaust historian Esther Gilbert, née Goldberg.[4] Gilbert described himself as a proud practising Jew and a Zionist.[41]

Death edit

In March 2012, while on a trip to Jerusalem, Gilbert developed a heart arrhythmia from which he never recovered.[42] He died in London on 3 February 2015, aged 78.[43] Gilbert asked to be buried in Israel, and a Memorial Tribute attended by Gordon Brown and Randolph Churchill (that is, Randolph Leonard Spencer-Churchill, the great-grandson of Winston Churchill) was organised on 24 November 2015 in the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, London.[44]

Gilbert's death was announced on 4 February 2015 by Sir John Chilcot. Giving evidence before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about delays in the publication of the report of the Iraq Inquiry, Chilcot reported that Gilbert had died the previous night following a long illness.[45][46][47]

Books edit

Biography of Winston Churchill edit

Volumes one and two were written by Churchill's son Randolph Churchill, who also edited the two companions to volume one. Gilbert's first work as official biographer was to supervise the posthumous publication of the three companions to volume two, but these were published in Randolph Churchill's name, and indeed, Randolph had already compiled most of the material in his lifetime. In 2008, Gilbert announced that the job of publishing the remaining companion volumes had been taken over by the Hillsdale Press, and the first of these appeared in 2014. The Hillsdale Press had already reprinted the complete biography in eight volumes and the sixteen published companion volumes, as a series titled "The Churchill Documents", so that the volume of 2014 became the seventeenth instalment of this series. Gilbert was incapacitated shortly after its publication, so that subsequent volumes were posthumously published by Gilbert's former research assistant Larry Arnn, with Gilbert credited as co-author.

  • Gilbert, Martin (1971a), Winston S Churchill, vol. Three: The Challenge of War: 1914–1916
  • —— (1975), Winston S Churchill, vol. Four: The Stricken World 1917–1922
  • —— (1979a), Winston S Churchill, vol. Five: Prophet of Truth 1922–1939
  • —— (1983), Winston S Churchill, vol. Six: Finest Hour 1939–1941
  • —— (1986a), Winston S Churchill, vol. Seven: Road to Victory 1941–1945
  • —— (1988), Winston S Churchill, vol. Eight: Never Despair 1945–1965

Companion volumes edit

  • Gilbert, Martin (1972a), Winston S Churchill, vol. Three, Documents (in two volumes)
  • —— (1977a), Winston S Churchill, vol. Four, Documents (in three volumes)
  • —— (1979b), Winston S Churchill, vol. The Exchequer Years, 1922–1929, Documents
  • —— (1981a), Winston S Churchill, vol. The Wilderness Years, 1929–1935, Documents
  • —— (1982a), Winston S Churchill, vol. The Coming of War, 1936–1939, Documents
  • —— (1993a), The Churchill War Papers, vol. One: Winston S Churchill, 'At The Admiralty': September 1939 – May 1940
  • —— (1995a), The Churchill War Papers, vol. Two: Winston S Churchill, 'Never Surrender': May – December 1940
  • —— (2000a), The Churchill War Papers, vol. Three: Winston S Churchill, 'The Ever-Widening War': 1941
  • —— (2014), The Churchill Documents, vol. Seventeen: Testing Times: 1942
  • ——; Arnn, Larry (2015), The Churchill Documents, vol. Eighteen: One Continent Redeemed, January–August 1943
  • ——; Arnn, Larry (2017), The Churchill Documents, vol. Nineteen: Fateful Questions, September 1943 – April 1944
  • ——; Arnn, Larry (2018), The Churchill Documents, vol. Twenty: Normandy and Beyond, May–December 1944
  • ——; Arnn, Larry (2019), The Churchill Documents, vol. Twenty-One: The Shadows of Victory, January–July 1945
  • ——; Arnn, Larry (2019), The Churchill Documents, vol. Twenty-Two: Leader of the Opposition, August 1945–October 1951
  • ——; Arnn, Larry (2019), The Churchill Documents, vol. Twenty-Three: Never Flinch, Never Weary, November 1951-February 1965

Other books on Winston Churchill edit

  • Gilbert, Martin (1966a), Winston Churchill, a short biography for use in schools
  • —— (1967), Churchill: Great Lives Observed
  • —— (1974a), Churchill: A Photographic Portrait
  • —— (1979c), Churchill: An Illustrated Biography
  • —— (1981b), Churchill's Political Philosophy
  • —— (1981c), Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
  • —— (1991), Churchill, A Life
  • —— (1994), In Search of Churchill
  • Gilbert, Martin, ed. (1997), Winston Churchill and Emery Reves, Correspondence 1937–1964
  • Gilbert, Martin (2003a), Churchill at War: His 'Finest Hour' in Photographs, 1940–1945
  • —— (2004a), Continue to Pester, Nag and Bite, retitled Winston Churchill's War Leadership
  • —— (2005), Churchill and America
  • —— (2006a), Will of the People
  • —— (2007), Churchill and the Jews
  • —— (2012), Churchill: The Power of Words

Other biographies and history books edit

  • ———; Gott, Richard (1963), The Appeasers
  • Gilbert, Martin, ed. (1964), Britain and Germany Between the Wars
  • Gilbert, Martin (1965a), The European Powers 1900–1945
  • Gilbert, Martin, ed. (1965b), Plough My Own Furrow: The Life of Lord Allen of Hurtwood
  • Gilbert, Martin (1965c), Recent History Atlas, 1860–1960
  • —— (1966b), The Roots of Appeasement
  • Gilbert, Martin, ed. (1966c), Servant of India, A Study of Imperial Rule in India from 1905 to 1910 as told through the correspondence and diaries of Sir James Dunlop-Smith, Private Secretary to the Viceroy of India
  • ———, ed. (1968a), Lloyd George: Great Lives Observed
  • Gilbert, Martin (1968b), British History Atlas
  • —— (1968c), American History Atlas
  • —— (1969), Jewish History Atlas
  • —— (1970), The Second World War, for use in schools
  • —— (1971b), First World War Atlas
  • —— (1972b), Russian History Atlas
  • —— (1973), Sir Horace Rumbold: Portrait of a Diplomat, 1869–1941
  • —— (1974b), The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Its History in Maps
  • —— (1976a), The Jews of Arab Lands: Their History in Maps
  • —— (1976b), The Jews of Russia: Their History in Maps and Photographs
  • —— (1977b), Jerusalem Illustrated History Atlas
  • —— (1978a), Exile and Return: The Emergence of Jewish Statehood
  • —— (1978b), The Holocaust, Maps and Photographs, for use in schools
  • —— (1979d), Final Journey: The Fate of the Jews of Nazi Europe
  • —— (1979e), Children's Illustrated Bible Atlas
  • —— (1981d), Auschwitz and the Allies
  • —— (1982b), Atlas of the Holocaust
  • —— (1984), Jews of Hope, The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today
  • —— (1985), Jerusalem: Rebirth of a City
  • —— (1986b), The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy
  • —— (1986c), Shcharansky: Hero of Our Time
  • —— (1989), Second World War
  • —— (1993b), Atlas of British Charities
  • —— (1994), First World War
  • —— (1995b), The Day the War Ended: May 8, 1945
  • —— (1996a), Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century
  • —— (1996b), The Boys, Triumph Over Adversity
  • —— (1997b), A History of the Twentieth Century, vol. One: 1900–1933
  • —— (1997c), Holocaust Journey: Travelling in Search of the Past
  • —— (1998), Israel: a history, Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-385-40401-3
  • —— (1999a), A History of the Twentieth Century, vol. Two, 1933–1951
  • —— (1999b), A History of the Twentieth Century, vol. Three, 1952–1999
  • —— (2000b), Never Again: A History of the Holocaust
  • —— (2001a), From The Ends of the Earth: The Jews in the Twentieth Century
  • —— (2001b), History of the Twentieth Century, condensed version of his three volume history
  • —— (2002a), Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5,000-Year History of the Jewish People and their Faith[48]
  • —— (2002b), The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust
  • —— (2003b), [The Christian Clergy as Rescuers: A Holocaust Imperative] (in German), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, ISBN 978-3-16-148229-8, archived from the original on 24 June 2013
  • —— (2004b), D-Day
  • —— (2006b), Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction
  • —— (2006c), The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War
  • —— (2008), The Story of Israel
  • —— (2009), Atlas of the Second World War
  • —— (2010), In Ishmael's House: A History of the Jews in Muslim Lands, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-16715-3

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Gilbert, Martin, Author's message, from the original on 22 May 2009
  2. ^ "Obituaries". University of Oxford Gazette. 145 (5087): 379. 19 February 2015.
  3. ^ a b Stoffmann, Judy (20 February 2015). "Obituary: Churchill biographer Sir Martin Gilbert immersed himself in history]". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b c The Papers of Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill Archives Centre,https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1585
  5. ^ a b . The Daily Telegraph. 4 February 2015. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Interview with Martin GilbertYuli Kosharovsky". kosharovsky.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  7. ^ a b Gott, Richard (4 February 2015). . The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  8. ^ Berg, Raffi (14 April 2005). "The fight against Holocaust denial". BBC News. from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  9. ^ "Interview with Martin Gilbert by Yuli Kosharovsky, June 14, 2005". from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  10. ^ Gross, Netty C. (3 March 2008). "Big Chill Remembered". The Jerusalem Report. from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  11. ^ Gilbert, Martin (1984). ""A Children's Tale," slide show and presentation". Soviet Jewry Information Centre. from the original on 4 July 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  12. ^ "Sir Martin Gilbert 1936–2015". University of Oxford. February 2015. from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  13. ^ "Leave to supplicate for D.Litt". Oxford University Gazette. 24 September 1998. from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  14. ^ Bangstad, Sindre (July 2013). "Eurabia Comes to Norway". Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. 24 (3): 19. doi:10.1080/09596410.2013.783969. S2CID 145132618.
  15. ^ "One on One with Sir Martin Gilbert: Hindsight and aforethought". The Jerusalem Post. 22 February 2007.
  16. ^ "In The House Of Ishmael: A history Of The Jews In Muslim Land, By Martin Gilbert". The Independent. 3 December 2010.
  17. ^ "Parliamentary Debates" (PDF). c 808. 24 June 2009. (PDF) from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  18. ^ Martin Gilbert "Statesmen for these times" 4 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Observer, 26 December 2004, originally published by Newsweek
  19. ^ Miles, Oliver (22 November 2009). "The key question – is Blair a war criminal?". The Independent on Sunday. London. from the original on 14 January 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  20. ^ Cesarani, David (29 January 2010). "Britain's affair with antisemitism". The Guardian. London. from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  21. ^ , Martin Gilbert, archived from the original on 6 April 2010
  22. ^ "Descriptions", Library thing, from the original on 19 May 2011
  23. ^ "A Rare Kind of Historian", Catholic exchange, 1 February 2008, from the original on 14 April 2013
  24. ^ , The Independent (review), London, archived from the original on 3 January 2011
  25. ^ Cohen, Michael J. (27 January 2017). "The Truth About Churchill and the Jews". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  26. ^ "Sir Martin's coffee-table book", Ha’aretz, IL, 7 August 2008, from the original on 18 November 2013
  27. ^ "No. 54066". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 1995. pp. 1–2.
  28. ^ Gilbert 2003b.
  29. ^ Prize, Dan David. "Martin Gilbert (October 1936 – February 2015)". www.dandavidprize.org. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  30. ^ . Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  31. ^ "Opening of Sir Martin Gilbert Library". 8 May 2014. from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  32. ^ a b "Awards & Honours – Sir Martin Gilbert". martingilbert.com. from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  33. ^ "Honorary Doctorate Recipients – Bar Ilan University". www1.biu.ac.il. from the original on 24 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  34. ^ "Honorary Graduates 1978 – 2000 | University of Buckingham". from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  35. ^ . provost.gwu.edu. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  36. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  37. ^ vjh10. "Honorary Graduates – University of Leicester". University of Leicester. from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  38. ^ "Honorary Doctorates – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem". www3.huji.ac.il. from the original on 11 February 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  39. ^ "Royal Society of Literature " Sir Martin Gilbert".
  40. ^ Ungvárya, Krisztián (4 August 2015). "England, Sir Martin Gilbert and Hungarian State Security" (PDF). Journal of Intelligence History. 15 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1080/16161262.2015.1061796. S2CID 146421634.
  41. ^ Brown, David (22 January 2010). "Chilcot inquiry member Sir Martin Gilbert praises Gordon Brown". The Times. London. from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  42. ^ "Sir Martin Gilbert obituary Eminent historian who wrote the definitive biography of Winston Churchill". The Guardian. 3 February 2015. from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  43. ^ "Martin Gilbert, preeminent Churchill biographer and Holocaust historian, dies". The Washington Post. 4 February 2015. from the original on 7 November 2017.
  44. ^ "Sir Martin Gilbert Memorial Tribute". Sir Martin Gilbert. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  45. ^ "Iraq Inquiry: Chilcot rejects calls for report timetable". BBC News. 4 February 2015. from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  46. ^ "Iraq Inquiry panel member Sir Martin Gilbert dies aged 78". ITV News. 4 February 2015. from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  47. ^ Doherty, Rosa (4 February 2015). "Historian Sir Martin Gilbert dies at 78". The Jewish Chronicle. London. from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  48. ^ Alderman, Geoffrey (26 April 2002). "Review: Letters to Auntie Fori by Martin Gilbert". the Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2023.

External links edit

  • Obituary in The Independent by Marcus Williamson
  • Martin Gilbert Online
  • Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Blum, Ruthie (22 February 2007), "One on One with Sir Martin Gilbert: Hindsight and aforethought", The Jerusalem Post (interview)
  • "Martin Gilbert", (official biography), archived from the original on 3 August 2009
  • The Papers of Sir Martin Gilbert held at Churchill Archives Centre

martin, gilbert, other, people, named, disambiguation, martin, john, gilbert, frsl, october, 1936, february, 2015, british, historian, honorary, fellow, merton, college, oxford, author, books, including, works, winston, churchill, 20th, century, jewish, histor. For other people named Martin Gilbert see Martin Gilbert disambiguation Sir Martin John Gilbert CBE FRSL 25 October 1936 3 February 2015 1 2 was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College Oxford He was the author of 88 books including works on Winston Churchill the 20th century and Jewish history including the Holocaust He was a member of the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain s role in the Iraq War The Right Honourable SirMartin GilbertCBE FRSLGilbert being awarded an honorary doctorate at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba Israel 2011BornMartin John Gilbert 1936 10 25 25 October 1936London United KingdomDied3 February 2015 2015 02 03 aged 78 London United KingdomEducationHighgate SchoolAlma materMagdalen College OxfordSt Antony s College Oxford Occupation s Historian authorKnown forWinston Churchill s official biographyTwentieth century historyJewish history Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 Historian and author 2 2 Public service 3 Reception 4 Honours and awards 5 Honorary degrees 6 Fellowships 7 Personal life 8 Death 9 Books 9 1 Biography of Winston Churchill 9 1 1 Companion volumes 9 2 Other books on Winston Churchill 9 3 Other biographies and history books 10 See also 11 References 12 External linksEarly life editMartin Gilbert was born in London the first child of Peter Gilbert a north London jeweller and his wife Miriam The original family name was Goldberg 3 4 All four of his grandparents had been born in the Pale of Settlement in Tsarist Russia today s Poland and Lithuania 3 5 6 Nine months after the outbreak of the Second World War he was evacuated to Canada as part of the British efforts to safeguard children Vivid memories of the transatlantic crossing from Liverpool to Quebec sparked his curiosity about the war in later years 1 After the war Gilbert attended Highgate School where he was taught history by the Balkan expert Alan Palmer and politics by T N Fox 5 He described himself as being interested in Jewish things from a young age noting that at school he once or twice got in trouble for my Zionistic activities 6 He then completed two years of National Service in the Intelligence Corps before going on to study at Magdalen College at the University of Oxford Gilbert graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first class honours in modern history 4 One of his tutors at Oxford was A J P Taylor After his graduation Gilbert undertook postgraduate research at St Antony s College Oxford Career editHistorian and author edit After two years of postgraduate work Gilbert was approached by Randolph Churchill to assist his work on a biography of his father Sir Winston Churchill That same year 1962 Gilbert was made a Fellow of Merton College Oxford and became a part of a circle of academics that included C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien He spent the next few years combining his own research projects in Oxford with being part of Randolph s research team in Suffolk who were working on the first two volumes of the Churchill biography When Randolph died in 1968 Gilbert was commissioned to take over the task completing the remaining six main volumes of the biography 7 Gilbert spent the next 20 years on the Churchill project publishing a number of other books throughout the time Each main volume of the biography is accompanied by two or three volumes of documents initially called Companions and so the biography currently runs to 28 volumes over 30 000 pages with another 3 document volumes still planned Michael Foot reviewing a volume of Gilbert s biography of Churchill in the New Statesman in 1971 praised his meticulous scholarship and wrote Whoever made the decision to make Martin Gilbert Churchill s biographer deserves a vote of thanks from the nation Nothing less would suffice citation needed In the 1960s Gilbert compiled a number of historical atlases His other major works include a single volume history on the Holocaust as well as the single volume histories First World War and Second World War He also wrote a three volume series called A History of the Twentieth Century Gilbert described himself as an archival historian who made extensive use of primary sources in his work 7 Interviewed by the BBC on the subject of Holocaust research in 2005 Gilbert said he believed that the tireless gathering of facts will ultimately consign Holocaust deniers to history 8 By the 1980s Gilbert s academic attention had also turned towards the Refusenik movement in the Soviet Union 9 Gilbert authored Jews of Hope The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today 1984 and Shcharansky Hero of Our Time 1986 and he presented on behalf of the Soviet Jewry Movement in a variety of contexts ranging from large forums such as formal representation before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 10 to smaller forums such as an educational slideshow for the general public on behalf of the Soviet Jewry Information Centre 11 In 1995 Gilbert retired as a Fellow of Merton College but was made an Honorary Fellow In 1999 12 he was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Oxford for the totality of his published work 13 In 2000 he received the Guardian of Zion Award from the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar Ilan University From 2002 he was a Distinguished Fellow of Hillsdale College Michigan and between 2006 and 2007 he was a Professor in the History department at the University of Western Ontario In October 2008 he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Churchill College citation needed Gilbert was noted for his endorsement of Bat Ye or and her Eurabia theory providing a cover comment for her 2005 book 14 and has stated that the theory is 100 percent accurate 15 One of Gilbert s last books In Ishmael s House A History of the Jews in Muslim Lands cited Ye or with approval several times 16 Public service edit Gilbert was appointed in June 2009 as a member of the British government s inquiry into the Iraq War headed by Sir John Chilcot His appointment to this inquiry was criticised in parliament by William Hague Clare Short and George Galloway on the basis of scepticism over his neutrality Gilbert having written in 2004 that George W Bush and Tony Blair may in the future be esteemed to the same degree as Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt 17 18 In an article for The Independent on Sunday published in November 2009 Oliver Miles the former British ambassador to Libya objected to the presence of Gilbert and Sir Lawrence Freedman on the committee partly because of their Jewish background and Gilbert s Zionist sympathies 19 In a later interview Gilbert saw Miles s attack as being motivated by antisemitism 20 Reception editMany laud Gilbert s books and atlases for their meticulous scholarship and his clear and objective presentation of complex events 21 His book on World War I is described by whom as a majestic single volume work incorporating all major fronts domestic diplomatic military for a stunning achievement of research and storytelling 22 Catholic sources describe him as a fair minded conscientious collector of facts 23 Gilbert s portrayal of Churchill s supportive attitudes to Jews in his book Churchill and the Jews has been criticised for example by Piers Brendon 24 and Michael J Cohen 25 Furthermore Tom Segev writes that although Gilbert s book The Story of Israel is written with encyclopaedic clarity it suffers from the absence of figures from Arab sources 26 Honours and awards editIn 1990 Gilbert was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE In 1995 he was awarded a knighthood for services to British history and international relations 27 In 2003 Gilbert was awarded the Dr Leopold Lucas Prize by the University of Tubingen 28 page needed In 2012 he won the Dan David Prize for his contribution to History Biography 29 The Sir Martin Gilbert Library at Highgate School where he was a pupil was opened on 6 May 2014 by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown 30 I know he helped Lady Thatcher John Major and Tony Blair but he also helped me a great deal with his insights into history said Brown I know he advised Harold Wilson even before them but at every point Martin was available and he wanted to believe that the best outcomes were possible A genuine humanitarian someone whose writing of history taught him we could always do better in the future if we are able to learn the lessons of history 31 Honorary degrees editGilbert received honorary degrees from several universities These include 32 Location Date School Degree nbsp Missouri 1981 Westminster College Doctor of Letters D Litt nbsp Israel 1989 Bar Ilan University Doctorate 33 nbsp Ohio 1992 Hebrew Union College Doctorate nbsp England 1992 University of Buckingham Doctor of Letters D Litt 34 nbsp England 1999 University of Oxford Doctor of Letters D Litt nbsp District of Columbia 2000 George Washington University Doctor of Letters D Litt 35 nbsp Pennsylvania 2000 Gratz College Doctorate nbsp New Jersey 2002 Seton Hall University Doctorate nbsp Ontario 4 June 2003 University of Western Ontario Doctor of Laws LL D 36 nbsp England 2004 University of Leicester Doctor of Letters D Litt 37 nbsp Israel 2004 Hebrew University of Jerusalem Doctor of Philosophy PhD 38 nbsp Israel 2011 Ben Gurion University of the Negev DoctorateThis list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items April 2018 Fellowships editGilbert was a Fellow of the following institutions 32 Location Date Institution Appointment nbsp United Kingdom 1977 Royal Society of Literature Fellowship FRSL 39 nbsp England 1994 Merton College Oxford Honorary Fellowship nbsp Wales 1997 University of Wales Lampeter Honorary Fellowship nbsp California 2002 University of California San Diego Distinguished Visiting Fellow nbsp Michigan 2002 Hillsdale College Distinguished Fellow nbsp England 2008 Churchill College Cambridge Honorary FellowshipThis list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items April 2018 Personal life editGilbert was the target of a serious attempt by the State Protection Authority of Hungary to recruit him as an agent in the early 1960s He initially responded warmly and agreed to go on a Hungarian government funded trip to Budapest in September 1961 and expressed views about Britain which seemed designed to impress his Hungarian hosts mixed with some untruths about his background The Hungarians attempted to intercept the many letters he sent back home during the trip and were able to work out that Gilbert was lying about being a Communist When invited to a further meeting in Paris Gilbert did not show up and eventually when his intended handler defected to the West the Hungarians gave up Gilbert never explained the incident himself writing about it in 2015 Hungarian historian Krisztian Ungvary noted that Gilbert must have realised what was going on and may have been used by the British intelligence services to plant a double agent 40 In 1963 he married Helen Constance Robinson with whom he had a daughter He had two sons with his second wife Susan Sacher whom he married in 1974 From 2005 he was married to the Holocaust historian Esther Gilbert nee Goldberg 4 Gilbert described himself as a proud practising Jew and a Zionist 41 Death editIn March 2012 while on a trip to Jerusalem Gilbert developed a heart arrhythmia from which he never recovered 42 He died in London on 3 February 2015 aged 78 43 Gilbert asked to be buried in Israel and a Memorial Tribute attended by Gordon Brown and Randolph Churchill that is Randolph Leonard Spencer Churchill the great grandson of Winston Churchill was organised on 24 November 2015 in the Western Marble Arch Synagogue London 44 Gilbert s death was announced on 4 February 2015 by Sir John Chilcot Giving evidence before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about delays in the publication of the report of the Iraq Inquiry Chilcot reported that Gilbert had died the previous night following a long illness 45 46 47 Books editBiography of Winston Churchill edit Volumes one and two were written by Churchill s son Randolph Churchill who also edited the two companions to volume one Gilbert s first work as official biographer was to supervise the posthumous publication of the three companions to volume two but these were published in Randolph Churchill s name and indeed Randolph had already compiled most of the material in his lifetime In 2008 Gilbert announced that the job of publishing the remaining companion volumes had been taken over by the Hillsdale Press and the first of these appeared in 2014 The Hillsdale Press had already reprinted the complete biography in eight volumes and the sixteen published companion volumes as a series titled The Churchill Documents so that the volume of 2014 became the seventeenth instalment of this series Gilbert was incapacitated shortly after its publication so that subsequent volumes were posthumously published by Gilbert s former research assistant Larry Arnn with Gilbert credited as co author Gilbert Martin 1971a Winston S Churchill vol Three The Challenge of War 1914 1916 1975 Winston S Churchill vol Four The Stricken World 1917 1922 1979a Winston S Churchill vol Five Prophet of Truth 1922 1939 1983 Winston S Churchill vol Six Finest Hour 1939 1941 1986a Winston S Churchill vol Seven Road to Victory 1941 1945 1988 Winston S Churchill vol Eight Never Despair 1945 1965Companion volumes edit Gilbert Martin 1972a Winston S Churchill vol Three Documents in two volumes 1977a Winston S Churchill vol Four Documents in three volumes 1979b Winston S Churchill vol The Exchequer Years 1922 1929 Documents 1981a Winston S Churchill vol The Wilderness Years 1929 1935 Documents 1982a Winston S Churchill vol The Coming of War 1936 1939 Documents 1993a The Churchill War Papers vol One Winston S Churchill At The Admiralty September 1939 May 1940 1995a The Churchill War Papers vol Two Winston S Churchill Never Surrender May December 1940 2000a The Churchill War Papers vol Three Winston S Churchill The Ever Widening War 1941 2014 The Churchill Documents vol Seventeen Testing Times 1942 Arnn Larry 2015 The Churchill Documents vol Eighteen One Continent Redeemed January August 1943 Arnn Larry 2017 The Churchill Documents vol Nineteen Fateful Questions September 1943 April 1944 Arnn Larry 2018 The Churchill Documents vol Twenty Normandy and Beyond May December 1944 Arnn Larry 2019 The Churchill Documents vol Twenty One The Shadows of Victory January July 1945 Arnn Larry 2019 The Churchill Documents vol Twenty Two Leader of the Opposition August 1945 October 1951 Arnn Larry 2019 The Churchill Documents vol Twenty Three Never Flinch Never Weary November 1951 February 1965Other books on Winston Churchill edit Gilbert Martin 1966a Winston Churchill a short biography for use in schools 1967 Churchill Great Lives Observed 1974a Churchill A Photographic Portrait 1979c Churchill An Illustrated Biography 1981b Churchill s Political Philosophy 1981c Winston Churchill The Wilderness Years 1991 Churchill A Life 1994 In Search of Churchill Gilbert Martin ed 1997 Winston Churchill and Emery Reves Correspondence 1937 1964 Gilbert Martin 2003a Churchill at War His Finest Hour in Photographs 1940 1945 2004a Continue to Pester Nag and Bite retitled Winston Churchill s War Leadership 2005 Churchill and America 2006a Will of the People 2007 Churchill and the Jews 2012 Churchill The Power of WordsOther biographies and history books edit Gott Richard 1963 The Appeasers Gilbert Martin ed 1964 Britain and Germany Between the Wars Gilbert Martin 1965a The European Powers 1900 1945 Gilbert Martin ed 1965b Plough My Own Furrow The Life of Lord Allen of Hurtwood Gilbert Martin 1965c Recent History Atlas 1860 1960 1966b The Roots of Appeasement Gilbert Martin ed 1966c Servant of India A Study of Imperial Rule in India from 1905 to 1910 as told through the correspondence and diaries of Sir James Dunlop Smith Private Secretary to the Viceroy of India ed 1968a Lloyd George Great Lives Observed Gilbert Martin 1968b British History Atlas 1968c American History Atlas 1969 Jewish History Atlas 1970 The Second World War for use in schools 1971b First World War Atlas 1972b Russian History Atlas 1973 Sir Horace Rumbold Portrait of a Diplomat 1869 1941 1974b The Arab Israeli Conflict Its History in Maps 1976a The Jews of Arab Lands Their History in Maps 1976b The Jews of Russia Their History in Maps and Photographs 1977b Jerusalem Illustrated History Atlas 1978a Exile and Return The Emergence of Jewish Statehood 1978b The Holocaust Maps and Photographs for use in schools 1979d Final Journey The Fate of the Jews of Nazi Europe 1979e Children s Illustrated Bible Atlas 1981d Auschwitz and the Allies 1982b Atlas of the Holocaust 1984 Jews of Hope The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today 1985 Jerusalem Rebirth of a City 1986b The Holocaust The Jewish Tragedy 1986c Shcharansky Hero of Our Time 1989 Second World War 1993b Atlas of British Charities 1994 First World War 1995b The Day the War Ended May 8 1945 1996a Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century 1996b The Boys Triumph Over Adversity 1997b A History of the Twentieth Century vol One 1900 1933 1997c Holocaust Journey Travelling in Search of the Past 1998 Israel a history Doubleday ISBN 978 0 385 40401 3 1999a A History of the Twentieth Century vol Two 1933 1951 1999b A History of the Twentieth Century vol Three 1952 1999 2000b Never Again A History of the Holocaust 2001a From The Ends of the Earth The Jews in the Twentieth Century 2001b History of the Twentieth Century condensed version of his three volume history 2002a Letters to Auntie Fori The 5 000 Year History of the Jewish People and their Faith 48 2002b The Righteous The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust 2003b Geistliche als Retter auch eine Lehre aus dem Holocaust The Christian Clergy as Rescuers A Holocaust Imperative in German Tubingen Mohr Siebeck ISBN 978 3 16 148229 8 archived from the original on 24 June 2013 2004b D Day 2006b Kristallnacht Prelude to Destruction 2006c The Somme Heroism and Horror in the First World War 2008 The Story of Israel 2009 Atlas of the Second World War 2010 In Ishmael s House A History of the Jews in Muslim Lands New Haven CT Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 16715 3See also editFori NehruReferences edit a b Gilbert Martin Author s message archived from the original on 22 May 2009 Obituaries University of Oxford Gazette 145 5087 379 19 February 2015 a b Stoffmann Judy 20 February 2015 Obituary Churchill biographer Sir Martin Gilbert immersed himself in history The Globe and Mail Retrieved 11 August 2020 a b c The Papers of Sir Martin Gilbert Churchill Archives Centre https archivesearch lib cam ac uk repositories 9 resources 1585 a b Sir Martin Gilbert historian obituary The Daily Telegraph 4 February 2015 Archived from the original on 18 September 2017 a b Interview with Martin GilbertYuli Kosharovsky kosharovsky com Retrieved 23 October 2019 a b Gott Richard 4 February 2015 Sir Martin Gilbert obituary The Guardian Archived from the original on 5 February 2015 Retrieved 23 October 2019 Berg Raffi 14 April 2005 The fight against Holocaust denial BBC News Archived from the original on 20 April 2010 Retrieved 12 May 2010 Interview with Martin Gilbert by Yuli Kosharovsky June 14 2005 Archived from the original on 23 November 2015 Retrieved 22 November 2015 Gross Netty C 3 March 2008 Big Chill Remembered The Jerusalem Report Archived from the original on 23 November 2015 Retrieved 22 November 2015 Gilbert Martin 1984 A Children s Tale slide show and presentation Soviet Jewry Information Centre Archived from the original on 4 July 2016 Retrieved 22 November 2015 Sir Martin Gilbert 1936 2015 University of Oxford February 2015 Archived from the original on 13 April 2017 Retrieved 9 April 2017 Leave to supplicate for D Litt Oxford University Gazette 24 September 1998 Archived from the original on 24 September 2015 Retrieved 4 May 2015 Bangstad Sindre July 2013 Eurabia Comes to Norway Islam and Christian Muslim Relations 24 3 19 doi 10 1080 09596410 2013 783969 S2CID 145132618 One on One with Sir Martin Gilbert Hindsight and aforethought The Jerusalem Post 22 February 2007 In The House Of Ishmael A history Of The Jews In Muslim Land By Martin Gilbert The Independent 3 December 2010 Parliamentary Debates PDF c 808 24 June 2009 Archived PDF from the original on 25 June 2009 Retrieved 29 July 2009 Martin Gilbert Statesmen for these times Archived 4 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine The Observer 26 December 2004 originally published by Newsweek Miles Oliver 22 November 2009 The key question is Blair a war criminal The Independent on Sunday London Archived from the original on 14 January 2010 Retrieved 12 March 2021 Cesarani David 29 January 2010 Britain s affair with antisemitism The Guardian London Archived from the original on 9 September 2013 Retrieved 25 March 2010 Book Reviews Oxford Mail Library Journal Middle East Review Booklist Chicago British Book News Society of University Cartographers Bulletin The Diplomatist Jewish Chronicle Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph Glasgow Jewish Echo Geographical Magazine Martin Gilbert archived from the original on 6 April 2010 Descriptions Library thing archived from the original on 19 May 2011 A Rare Kind of Historian Catholic exchange 1 February 2008 archived from the original on 14 April 2013 Churchill amp the Jews by Martin Gilbert The Independent review London archived from the original on 3 January 2011 Cohen Michael J 27 January 2017 The Truth About Churchill and the Jews Haaretz Retrieved 3 May 2020 Sir Martin s coffee table book Ha aretz IL 7 August 2008 archived from the original on 18 November 2013 No 54066 The London Gazette Supplement 16 June 1995 pp 1 2 Gilbert 2003b Prize Dan David Martin Gilbert October 1936 February 2015 www dandavidprize org Retrieved 3 November 2020 New Highgate School Library Archived from the original on 4 February 2015 Retrieved 4 February 2015 Opening of Sir Martin Gilbert Library 8 May 2014 Archived from the original on 4 February 2015 Retrieved 4 February 2015 a b Awards amp Honours Sir Martin Gilbert martingilbert com Archived from the original on 14 April 2018 Retrieved 4 May 2018 Honorary Doctorate Recipients Bar Ilan University www1 biu ac il Archived from the original on 24 May 2017 Retrieved 4 May 2018 Honorary Graduates 1978 2000 University of Buckingham Archived from the original on 6 July 2017 Retrieved 14 April 2018 Honorary Degree Recipients Office of the Provost The George Washington University provost gwu edu Archived from the original on 15 February 2018 Retrieved 4 May 2018 Archived copy PDF Archived PDF from the original on 5 March 2016 Retrieved 1 June 2017 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link vjh10 Honorary Graduates University of Leicester University of Leicester Archived from the original on 14 April 2018 Retrieved 4 May 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Honorary Doctorates The Hebrew University of Jerusalem www3 huji ac il Archived from the original on 11 February 2013 Retrieved 4 May 2018 Royal Society of Literature Sir Martin Gilbert Ungvarya Krisztian 4 August 2015 England Sir Martin Gilbert and Hungarian State Security PDF Journal of Intelligence History 15 1 1 16 doi 10 1080 16161262 2015 1061796 S2CID 146421634 Brown David 22 January 2010 Chilcot inquiry member Sir Martin Gilbert praises Gordon Brown The Times London Archived from the original on 5 June 2011 Retrieved 28 January 2010 Sir Martin Gilbert obituary Eminent historian who wrote the definitive biography of Winston Churchill The Guardian 3 February 2015 Archived from the original on 5 February 2015 Retrieved 3 February 2015 Martin Gilbert preeminent Churchill biographer and Holocaust historian dies The Washington Post 4 February 2015 Archived from the original on 7 November 2017 Sir Martin Gilbert Memorial Tribute Sir Martin Gilbert Retrieved 23 October 2019 Iraq Inquiry Chilcot rejects calls for report timetable BBC News 4 February 2015 Archived from the original on 4 February 2015 Retrieved 4 February 2015 Iraq Inquiry panel member Sir Martin Gilbert dies aged 78 ITV News 4 February 2015 Archived from the original on 4 February 2015 Retrieved 4 February 2015 Doherty Rosa 4 February 2015 Historian Sir Martin Gilbert dies at 78 The Jewish Chronicle London Archived from the original on 4 February 2015 Retrieved 4 February 2015 Alderman Geoffrey 26 April 2002 Review Letters to Auntie Fori by Martin Gilbert the Guardian Retrieved 7 July 2023 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Martin Gilbert Obituary in The Independent by Marcus Williamson Martin Gilbert Online Appearances on C SPAN Blum Ruthie 22 February 2007 One on One with Sir Martin Gilbert Hindsight and aforethought The Jerusalem Post interview Martin Gilbert Iraq Inquiry official biography archived from the original on 3 August 2009 The Papers of Sir Martin Gilbert held at Churchill Archives Centre Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Martin Gilbert amp oldid 1186598656, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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