A paperback edition of the important new illustrated account of the Holocaust from the distinguished historian Martin Gilbert, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject. It is the culmination of three years' picture research and draws on the massive permanent exhibition which is mounted at the Imperial War Museum, London. Martin Gilbert writes of the richness and continuity of Jewish life before 1933; the spread of Nazism in Germany and its victims; refugee havens, and the contribution of refugees to the countries that took them in; the 10,000 Kinderstansporte youngsters who were given safe haven in Britain; German military conquests and the further spread of Nazism, starting with Poland, ending with Italy, Greece and Hungary; life and death in the ghettos; and the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Through the eight chapters, Martin Gilbert describes the mass murder, the witnesses, perpetrators and escapees; the resistance, and the Warsaw ghetto revolts; death in the camps such as Auschwitz, and individual acts of defiance and heroism, those who were betrayed, and the survivors. He relates the stories of the 'Righteous Gentiles' who risked their lives to save the Jews. He describes the death marches, the survivors of the camps, the liberation of the Jews and the aftermath; the war crimes trials from Nuremberg to Eichman. Finally, he addresses the questions that are still being asked about the Holocaust today.


About the author:
Sir Martin Gilbert is a leading British historian and the author of more than eighty books. Specializing in 20th century history, he is also the official biographer of Winston Churchill and has written an eight-volume biography of the war leader’s life.

Born in London in 1936, Martin Gilbert was evacuated to Canada with his family at the beginning of World War II as part of the British government’s efforts to protect children from the brutal bombings of the Luftwaffe. He was made a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1962. He is the author of several definitive historical works examining the Holocaust, the First and Second World Wars, and the history of the 20th century.

In 1990, Gilbert was designated a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and was awarded a Knighthood in 1995. Oxford University awarded him a Doctorate in 1999. Today, he is a sought-after speaker on Churchill, Jewish history, and the history of the 20th century, and he travels frequently to lecture at colleges, universities, and organizations around the world