Wiesenthal Center Mourns Passing of Sir Martin Gilbert

February 4, 2015

“He brought history alive, made it real and undeniable,” says Center’s Founder and Dean

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is mourning the death of Sir Martin Gilbert (pictured here in a 2012 meeting in London with SWC Dean and Founder Rabbi Marvin Hier), the distinguished historian who, among his many works, chronicled the Holocaust and the State of Israel. He also served as the official biographer of Winston Churchill, producing a widely praised multi-volume work.

Gilbert was a frequent collaborator with the Wiesenthal Center on such projects as the documentaries Winston Churchill: Walking With Destiny, Liberation, and the Academy Award™-winning Genocide. In a condolence letter to the Gilbert family, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Center and a longtime friend of Sir Martin, celebrated the historian as “a great lover of Zion and a devoted son of the Jewish people.”

“He brought history alive, made it real and undeniable, particularly his works on the Holocaust, Winston Churchill and the State of Israel. Although he has left us, his books will be read by the Jewish people for generations to come,” wrote Rabbi Hier.

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).