In this heart-wrenching book, Father Patrick Desbois documents the daunting task of identifying and examining all the sites where Jews were exterminated by Nazi mobile units in the Ukraine in WWII, with the goal of providing proper burials for the victims of the forgotten Ukrainian Holocaust.
Winner of the 2008 National Jewish Book Award in Holocaust Studies.
'An outstanding contribution to Holocaust literature, uncovering new dimensions of the tragedy, and should be on the shelves of even the smallest library. Highly recommended.' - Library Journal
"In Jewish tradition the greatest category of acts one can perform are those of 'loving kindness,' including taking care of the sick, welcoming the stranger, and sheltering the needy. The most treasured of these acts is taking care of the dead because, unlike the others, it cannot be reciprocated. Jewish tradition posits that it is then that the individual most closely emulates God's kindness to humans, which also cannot be reciprocated. Father Patrick Desbois has performed this act of loving kindness not for one person but for hundreds of thousands of people who were murdered in cold blood. He has done so despite the fact that many people would have preferred this story never to be uncovered and others doubted that it ever could be done. His contribution to history and to human memory, as chronicled in this important book, is immeasurable." - Deborah E. Lipstadt, Ph.D. author of History on Trial: my Day in court with Holocaust Denier David Irving
"Father Patrick Desbois gives a horrifying account of dimensions of the Holocaust until now undocumented. His Catholic faith, experiences of his own family, the support of the French bishops and the research capacities of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are enabling him to carry out a work of discovery, of healing and reconciliation. This book is a striking contribution to Christian-Jewish relations. We owe him a debt of enormous proportions." - Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. Archbishop of Chicago
"In this very personal and affecting account of his gradual discovery of the events of the Holocaust in the Ukraine Patrick Desbois, a French priest, gives us a widened perspective of the extraordinarily complex manipulation of the local population by the Nazis, who forcibly requisitioned Ukrainian citizens of all ages to assist in the killings. In village after village, more than 60 years after the horrific events, the inhabitants, many of whom had been children at the time, came forward to bear witness. From the many interviews in the text, it is clear that the personal trauma of forced involvement in the mass executions has never diminished. And indeed, the stories of what they saw takes one's breath away. This is a significant addition to the history of the Holocaust that sheds new light on events in the Nazi occupied areas of the former USSR." - Lynn H. Nicholas, (Author of Cruel World: The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web and The Rape of Europa: Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War. )
'Part memoir, part prosecutorial brief, The Holocaust by Bullets tells a compelling story in which a priest unconnected by heritage or history is so moved by an injustice he sets out to right a daunting wrong.' - Tim Collie, www.miamiherald.com
'The Holocaust by Bullets is one of the most moving, troubling and insightful books on the Holocaust, or for that matter any other subject, that I have ever read.' - Eugene J. Fisher, The Catholic Review
'This is often a harrowing book to read but Father Dubois has rightly been honoured for his work. Despite the horrors he describes, his voice is always calm and measured. We owe him a great debt of gratitude and this book should be read as widely as possible. It is a major contribution to Holocaust scholarship.' - Richard Jaffa, Birmingham Jewish Recorder
'Desbois is one priest who understands the deep wounds of history, and his journey reminds us that without honoring the past there can be no hope for the future.' - Andrew D Cohen, Hadassah Magazine
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UKRAINE, SPRING 2007
Origins
A Path
From Auschwitz to Jerusalem
The Priest of Belzec
From Cemetery to Cemetery
A Team and its Ethic
Discovering the Truth
Accepting the Truth
They Saw
The Requisitions
Establishing a Methodology
Your Brother's Blood
A burial Place for the Dead
The Mass Graves
An Extermination in Every Village
Operation 1005
Bousk
He Who Saves a Single Soul Saves the Whole World
Everyday Evil
In Memory of Dora
Acknowledgements
Maps
Notes
Index
FATHER PATRICK DESBOIS is secretary to the French Conference of Bishops for relations with Judaism, advisor to the
Cardinal-Archbishop of Lyon and advisor to the Vatican on the Jewish religion. Grandson of a deportee to the Rawa Ruska camp, he has set out to investigate the mass murder of Eastern European Jews by the Nazis during the Second World War. He is the winner of the B'nai B'rith International Award for Outstanding Contribution to Relations with the Jewish People. He lives in Paris, France.
Description
In this heart-wrenching book, Father Patrick Desbois documents the daunting task of identifying and examining all the sites where Jews were exterminated by Nazi mobile units in the Ukraine in WWII, with the goal of providing proper burials for the victims of the forgotten Ukrainian Holocaust.
Reviews
Winner of the 2008 National Jewish Book Award in Holocaust Studies.
'An outstanding contribution to Holocaust literature, uncovering new dimensions of the tragedy, and should be on the shelves of even the smallest library. Highly recommended.' - Library Journal
"In Jewish tradition the greatest category of acts one can perform are those of 'loving kindness,' including taking care of the sick, welcoming the stranger, and sheltering the needy. The most treasured of these acts is taking care of the dead because, unlike the others, it cannot be reciprocated. Jewish tradition posits that it is then that the individual most closely emulates God's kindness to humans, which also cannot be reciprocated. Father Patrick Desbois has performed this act of loving kindness not for one person but for hundreds of thousands of people who were murdered in cold blood. He has done so despite the fact that many people would have preferred this story never to be uncovered and others doubted that it ever could be done. His contribution to history and to human memory, as chronicled in this important book, is immeasurable." - Deborah E. Lipstadt, Ph.D. author of History on Trial: my Day in court with Holocaust Denier David Irving
"Father Patrick Desbois gives a horrifying account of dimensions of the Holocaust until now undocumented. His Catholic faith, experiences of his own family, the support of the French bishops and the research capacities of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are enabling him to carry out a work of discovery, of healing and reconciliation. This book is a striking contribution to Christian-Jewish relations. We owe him a debt of enormous proportions." - Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. Archbishop of Chicago
"In this very personal and affecting account of his gradual discovery of the events of the Holocaust in the Ukraine Patrick Desbois, a French priest, gives us a widened perspective of the extraordinarily complex manipulation of the local population by the Nazis, who forcibly requisitioned Ukrainian citizens of all ages to assist in the killings. In village after village, more than 60 years after the horrific events, the inhabitants, many of whom had been children at the time, came forward to bear witness. From the many interviews in the text, it is clear that the personal trauma of forced involvement in the mass executions has never diminished. And indeed, the stories of what they saw takes one's breath away. This is a significant addition to the history of the Holocaust that sheds new light on events in the Nazi occupied areas of the former USSR." - Lynn H. Nicholas, (Author of Cruel World: The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web and The Rape of Europa: Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War. )
'Part memoir, part prosecutorial brief, The Holocaust by Bullets tells a compelling story in which a priest unconnected by heritage or history is so moved by an injustice he sets out to right a daunting wrong.' - Tim Collie, www.miamiherald.com
'The Holocaust by Bullets is one of the most moving, troubling and insightful books on the Holocaust, or for that matter any other subject, that I have ever read.' - Eugene J. Fisher, The Catholic Review
'This is often a harrowing book to read but Father Dubois has rightly been honoured for his work. Despite the horrors he describes, his voice is always calm and measured. We owe him a great debt of gratitude and this book should be read as widely as possible. It is a major contribution to Holocaust scholarship.' - Richard Jaffa, Birmingham Jewish Recorder
'Desbois is one priest who understands the deep wounds of history, and his journey reminds us that without honoring the past there can be no hope for the future.' - Andrew D Cohen, Hadassah Magazine
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UKRAINE, SPRING 2007
Origins
A Path
From Auschwitz to Jerusalem
The Priest of Belzec
From Cemetery to Cemetery
A Team and its Ethic
Discovering the Truth
Accepting the Truth
They Saw
The Requisitions
Establishing a Methodology
Your Brother's Blood
A burial Place for the Dead
The Mass Graves
An Extermination in Every Village
Operation 1005
Bousk
He Who Saves a Single Soul Saves the Whole World
Everyday Evil
In Memory of Dora
Acknowledgements
Maps
Notes
Index
Authors
FATHER PATRICK DESBOIS is secretary to the French Conference of Bishops for relations with Judaism, advisor to the
Cardinal-Archbishop of Lyon and advisor to the Vatican on the Jewish religion. Grandson of a deportee to the Rawa Ruska camp, he has set out to investigate the mass murder of Eastern European Jews by the Nazis during the Second World War. He is the winner of the B'nai B'rith International Award for Outstanding Contribution to Relations with the Jewish People. He lives in Paris, France.
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