Israel Gutman (; 20 May 1923 – 1 October 2013) was a Polish-born Israeli historian and a survivor of

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

Biography

Israel (Yisrael) Gutman was born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. After participating and being wounded in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, he was deported to the Majdanek, Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps.Notes on the Contributors
His parents and siblings died in the ghetto. In January 1945, he survived the death march from Auschwitz to Mauthausen, where he was liberated by U.S. forces. In the immediate post-war period, he joined the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the World War II, Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv, Y ...

in Italy. In 1946, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine and joined

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Lehavot HaBashan, where he raised a family. He was a member of the kibbutz for 25 years. In 1961, he testified at the trial of Adolf Eichmann.

Academic career

Gutman was a professor of history at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

and deputy chairman of the International Auschwitz Council at Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. He was the editor-in-chief of the ''

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust The ''Encyclopedia of the Holocaust'' (1990) has been called "the most recognized reference book on the Holocaust". It was published in an English-language translated edition by Macmillan in tandem with the Hebrew language original edition pub ...

'' and won the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for Military Studies. At

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

, he headed the International Institute for Holocaust Research (1993–1996), served as Chief Historian (1996–2000) and was the Academic Advisor (from 2000). He was also an advisor to the Polish government on Jewish Affairs, Judaism and Holocaust Commemoration. He died, aged 90, in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Published works

*'' The Jews of Warsaw, 1939-1943: Ghetto, Underground, Revolt'' (1982) *''Unequal Victims: Poles and Jews in World War Two'' (1986) *'' The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars'' (1989) *''Anatomy of Auschwitz Death Camp'' (with Michael Berenbaum, 1994) *''Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising'' (1994) *'' Emanuel Ringelblum – The Man and the Historian'' (2006)

References

External links

Israel Gutman
in an online exhibition by

Interview with Professor Israel Gutman
Yad Vashem website {{DEFAULTSORT:Gutman, Israel 1923 births 2013 deaths Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Historians of the Holocaust Jewish historians Majdanek concentration camp survivors Mauthausen concentration camp survivors Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Jewish Combat Organization members Yad Vashem people Writers from Warsaw