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Bestselling historian Laurence Rees talks about his landmark publication on the Holocaust and explains how and why it happened.

Rees spent 25 years meeting survivors and perpetrators of the Holocaust, and his account features their previously unpublished eyewitness testimonies. His book is the first authoritative and accessible account of the Holocaust published in three decades and is supported by the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Rees argues that, while hatred of Jews was at the centre of Nazi thinking, the appalling crimes of the Holocaust cannot be fully understood without considering the murder of Jews alongside Nazi plans to kill millions of non-Jews as well.

Rees is a former head of BBC TV history and creative director of BBC television history. He wrote, directed and produced several award-winning series on the Nazis and the Second World War. His book, Auschwitz, won History Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and is the world’s bestselling book on the history of the camp.

There has been a Jewish presence on the Rock of Gibraltar for more than 650 years. In 1729 the British reached agreement with the Sultan of Morocco that his Jewish subjects were legally permitted to reside in Gibraltar. At the time of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 half of the population of the town was Jewish.

The community now numbers over 600, and has contributed many leaders to Gibraltar public life, including the first chief minister, Sir Joshua Hassan. Four historic synagogues survive within the city walls.

At the invitation of HM Government of Gibraltar, the first Gibraltar Lecture was given by Ben Okri in 2014, by Professor Frank Close in 2015 and Boyd Tonkin in 2016.

The Hon. Gilbert Licudi QC MP, Minister for Tourism, Employment, Commercial Aviation and the Port, HM Government of
Gibraltar, will introduce the lecture.

Sponsored by Gibunco Group.

In association with the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.