The prestigious Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research has been awarded posthumously to David Cesarani for his critically acclaimed work Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933–1949.

The award was collected by the distinguished historian’s widow Dawn Waterman at a ceremony  held on Wednesday in Jerusalem.

Professor Cesarani died aged 58 in October 2015, after surgery to remove a tumour on his spine.

His award-winning book, which was published in January 2016, provided an exhaustive study of Hitler’s Nazi regime and challenged the idea of the Holocaust as industrialised, scientific killing.