On Tuesday 4 November, the Royal Historical Society hosted its annual Public History Lecture in association with Gresham College London.

Our speaker was the historian, journalist and politician, Lord Daniel Finkelstein, whose lecture was entitled: ‘Minor Criminal: The Trial of the Man Who Murdered My Grandmother’. Daniel’s lecture, hosted at Gresham College in the City of London is now available to view via the Gresham site.

The Society’s partnership with Gresham College showcases historical research and writing of wide-ranging appeal to a public audience. Public understanding of history, and of its social and civic value, is a primary concern of the Society. 

This year’s speaker, Daniel Finkelstein, is an exemplary advocate for the importance of history, and the warnings it contains, as a guide for the contemporary practice of political and civic life. This is a message that runs through Daniel’s career as a political commentator, journalist and author of the 2023 book Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad. A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival. 

Daniel’s lecture drew on this family history, revealing the horrific experiences of his mother and grandmother who were incarcerated in the concentration camp at Bergen Belsen. It was the liberation of this camp, 80 years ago this April, which first revealed to many British observers the unimaginable horrors and brutality of the Nazi regime, and led to the ‘Belsen Trial’, a forerunner of the better known Nuremberg Trials and the focus of Daniel’s lecture. 

We are very grateful to Lord Finkelstein for his lecture and to Gresham College for this partnership in public history.

In addition to this year’s lecture, the Gresham site also offers recordings of 20 previous Royal Historical Society Public History Lectures, featuring presentations from, among others, David Olusoga, Tom Holland, Kavita Puri, Janina Ramirez and Michael Wood.