In 1996 Martin Gilbert, England's leading historian of the Holocaust and World War II, was asked by a group of his graduate students to lead them on a tour of the places in Europe that were the setting for one of humanity's darkest moments. This powerful travel narrative is the culmination of their two-week journey.

Gilbert skillfully interweaves the day-to-day experiences of the group and his extraordinary knowledge of Jewish European history with the personal memories of Holocaust survivors and victims - drawing on diaries, letters and memoirs, many of which are revealed here for the first time.

Their journey also includes stops in Berlin, at the site of the 1933 Nazi book burning; the railway line to Auschwitz; Oskar Schindler's factory in Cracow, Poland; and the memorial site in Treblinka. More than fifty maps tracing the group's route and a rich selection of photographs add an arresting visual dimension to the story.