Sir Martin Gilbert

Sir Martin Gilbert, the world-renowned historian and author of 88 books, was born in London in 1936, and was evacuated to Canada in 1940, returning to Britain in 1944. Educated at Oxford University, from which he was awarded a Doctorate of Literature for the totality of his published work in 1999, he has been the Official Biographer of Winston Churchill since 1968, publishing seven volumes of narrative, including Churchill A Life, and twelve volumes of documents.

In 1984 and 1985, Sir Martin was a Non-Governmental Organization representative and speaker at the United Nations Human Rights commission in Geneva. In 1995, he accompanied the British Prime Minister John Major to Jerusalem, Gaza, Amman and Washington. In 2008, he accompanied Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Jerusalem. His six -volume biography of Winston Churchill was Gordon Brown’s gift to President Obama in March 2009. In 2009, he accompanied Gordon Brown to Auschwitz. He has lectured widely, including at the Soviet Ministry of Defense in Moscow, the Canadian Houses of Parliament in Ottawa, the Academy of Sciences in Kiev, UNESCO in Paris (a Kristallnacht commemoration) at the White House, and at the British Foreign Office ceremony recognizing the British diplomats who helped save Jews.

Among his books are First World War, Second World War (in which the Holocaust is an integral part) and the three-volume A History of the Twentieth Century. His books on Holocaust themes include The Holocaust, The Jewish Tragedy (a comprehensive history), Kristallnacht (the story of the November Nazi pogrom and its aftermath), Final Journey (the documentary story of ten Holocaust-related journeys), Auschwitz and the Allies (which tells the story of how the news reached the West, and the debate about the bombing of the camp), The Righteous (the story of Christians who saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust), Holocaust Journey (a diary of a journey with his university students to pre-war-Jewish communities and wartime camps), Never Again (an illustrated history of the Holocaust for students and young people), The Boys (the stories of 750 young survivors of the camps), and Atlas of the Holocaust (a pioneering 330-map history of the Holocaust in maps and text).

In 1995, Sir Martin was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for “services to education,” and in 1995 was knighted (becoming “Sir Martin”) both for “services to British history” and services to “international affairs.”

Details of Sir Martin’s 88 books can be found at MartinGilbert.com.