Atlas of the Holocaust (Hardcover)

by Martin Gilbert (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
First published by Macmillan (1982) and later by Pergamon (1988), Atlas of the Holocaust features 316 black-and-white maps showing "in chronological sequence, the destruction of each of the main Jewish communities of Europe, as well as acts of resistance and revolt, avenues of escape and rescue, and the fate of individuals." Written by a preeminent historian (Gilbert has written several books on the Holocaust and is the official biographer of Churchill), the atlas presents a chilling portrait--using primarily maps rather than pictures--of one nation's attempt to wipe out an entire people.

After the list of maps and a key to special symbols used on them, Gilbert's brief introduction features a map that shows a personal portrait of the fate of 17 people out of the 6,000,000 killed. The atlas proper opens with a map depicting anti-Jewish violence before World War I and continues chronologically from there. Maps typically include numbers of Jews living in an individual country, town, or village before the Holocaust; the number seeking refuge in a place; or the number executed in a place. Maps vary greatly in general themes and are not all devoted to the more infamous mass executions. "The Hirschsprung Family Deported, 15 September 1942," for example, traces the movement of one family. The atlas graphically depicts how wide-ranging the Holocaust was. All maps are accompanied by very readable text, and approximately 50 photographs are spread throughout the book.

A comparison with the 1982 Macmillan work reveals that there has not been any revision to the maps or to the text accompanying them. All maps in this volume, in fact, bear a 1982 copyright. The bibliography--a superb nine-page list of unpublished and published sources--has likewise not been updated, failing, for example, to cite the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. The only addition to the previous printings of this work are two indexes: a 23-page index of places, which gives map numbers for each listed on a map, and a four-page index of individuals mentioned in the text. They are great improvements over the 1982 index, which listed only the principal camps and mass-murder sites.

Libraries owning a previous edition of this work may not find it necessary to purchase this newer printing, save for the convenience of having a good index. However, given the extremely reasonable price of this volume, the atlas constitutes an exceptional value and deserves a place in every high school, public, and academic library. The text accompanying the maps may even warrant the purchase of an additional copy for the circulating collection.

Product Description

Atlas of the Holocaust, the product of seven years' research, is a comprehensive record of the Nazi attempt to annihilate the Jews of Europe during World War II.

World-renowned historian Martin Gilbert has drawn each of the 316 maps especially for this atlas. All are fully annotated and are based on documentary evidence from a wide range of sources.

The atlas traces each phase of the Holocaust, beginning with the anti-Semitic violence of prewar Germany and leading to the German conquest of countries in which the Jews had lived for centuries. Presented in chronological order, the maps document in compelling detail, month by month and week by week, the story of the Holocaust, from the spread of the early random killings of Jews and their systematic mass expulsion from thousands of towns and villages to the establishment of ghettos and the setting up of the death camps. The atlas ends with the death marches and executions in the final days of the Allied liberation. Also shown on the maps are more than two hundred acts of resistance and revolt, as well as areas of Jewish partisan activity and other avenues of escape and rescue. Many maps tell the stories of hundreds of children deported to their deaths. Others bear witness to individuals active in revolt and tell moving sagas of their courage and defiance.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company (May 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688123643
• ISBN-13: 978-0688123642
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #411,448 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative, September 28, 1997

By A Customer

To read this book is a mitzvah. I showed this book to a survivor whos village no longer exists. She started to cry when her village was mentioned and she said "someone does remember us". This was very touching and I think that all survivors should know that there are many who still remember. The thing that I felt that was lacking, is that there was very little detail of when of Jews of Italy and Greece were deported to the camps.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tracing the murder of 6 million through maps, June 1, 2007

By	Gary Selikow (Great Kush) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Martin Gilbert is possibly the most prolific historian on the history of the holocaust.
In this volume gilbert has compiled 316 maps, together with a commentary t o illustrate the scope of the horror that took place between 1941 and 1945.
He begins by tracing the history of anti-Semitic violence in Europe, with maps and history of anti-Jewish violence before the First World War, and anti-Jewish violence in Europe between 1918 and 1932.
One fascinating map details the two thousand year history of Jewish life in Europe by 1933, explaining how long Jews had lived in each country in Europe covered.
Gilbert painstakingly covers each region of Europe and North Africa, where Jews were targeted, interend and murdered. He details the greater massacres and the lesser known killings.
He also outlines the countries to which German Jewish refugees were recieved.
From Germany between 1933 and 1938, 500 000 Jews emigrated or fled abroad, including more than 33 000 to the then 'Palestine', where they joined tens of thousands of recent Jewish immigrants from Poland.
After the war, 200 000 survivors of the camps emigrated to "Palestine".
Hence descendants of refugees from Nazism and holocaust survivors make up a substantial part of Israel's population today.
Gilbert does not spare the horror when he describes the random killing and anti-Jewish pogroms, the anti-Jewish measures taken in different countries, the forcing of Jews into ghettos, the deliberate starvation of Jews in these ghettos, the deportations and death camps, the slave labout systems and the mass killings.

This is a very comprehensive digest, and although there were so many whose names have not been recorded, Gilbert does record the names, ages and places of birth of some holocaust victims whose cases he examines.
He also details lesser known locations of the Nazi persecution, such as the fate of Jews in Morocco, LIbya and Tunisia under Nazi/Axis occupation during this period.
Ever period is intensely covered, as is every geographic region where Jews suffered and died.
Several maps detail the cases of some of the children deported to from various places in Europe, and from various countries, such as maps showing the names, ages and places from which several children were deported from France.
We wonder about the lives and cruel deaths of the precious children whose ages and names we see, but whom we know little else about.
The atlas is supplemented about 40 , sometimes very graphic photographs, and two important maps are placed at the end of the book estimated how many Jews from each country were murdered during the holocaust, and how many Jews returned to their countries of birth after the war.
Always keeping the human touch and concern for each individual victim and survivor, Gilbert provides the stories of three of several children who survived and were taken to the children's home at Ulm: Idel Levitan, Renja Fraum and Zlata Tauber-with their photographs.
Gilbert succeeds as always with combining the recording of the larger events, with a ground eye view.