Martin Gilbert
FRSL | |
---|---|
Born | Martin John Gilbert 25 October 1936 London, United Kingdom |
Died | 3 February 2015 London, United Kingdom | (aged 78)
Education | Highgate School |
Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford St Antony's College, Oxford |
Occupation(s) | Historian, author |
Known for | Winston Churchill's official biography Twentieth century history Jewish history |
Sir Martin John Gilbert
Early life and education
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.
After the war, Gilbert attended
Career
Historian and author
After two years of postgraduate work, Gilbert was approached by
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
By the 1980s Gilbert's academic attention had also turned towards the
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
Public service
Gilbert was appointed in June 2009 as a member of the British government's
Reception
Many laud Gilbert's books and atlases for their meticulous scholarship and his clear and objective presentation of complex events.
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
In 1990, Gilbert was made a Commander of the
Honorary degrees
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
Gilbert was a Fellow of the following institutions:[32]
Location | Date | Institution | Appointment |
---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 1977 | Royal Society of Literature | Fellowship (FRSL)[39] |
England | 1994 | Merton College, Oxford | Honorary Fellowship |
Wales | 1997 | University of Wales, Lampeter | Honorary Fellowship |
California | 2002 | University of California, San Diego | Distinguished Visiting Fellow |
Michigan | 2002 | Hillsdale College | Distinguished Fellow |
England | 2008 | Churchill College, Cambridge | Honorary Fellowship |
Personal life
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
Death
In March 2012, while on a trip to
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
Biography of Winston Churchill
Volumes one and two were written by Churchill's son
- 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
- 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
- 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
- ———; 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, 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), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, ISBN 978-3-16-148229-8, archived from the originalon 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
References
- ^ "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.
- 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
- The Independent on Sunday. London. Archivedfrom 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 & 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 & 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.
{{cite web}}
: 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.
{{cite web}}
: 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".
- 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
- 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