EXPOSING EVIDENCE OF THE HOLOCAUST BY BULLETS
Michał Chojak, Yahad In - Unum
Since 2004, the researchers of Yahad - In Unum have investigated the mass shootings of Jews in Eastern Europe. In January 2018, Patrice Bensimon, Research Director of the organization, and Michał Chojak, Deputy Research Director, came to Oświęcim to conduct an extensive training program focusing on the "Holocaust by Bullets" for the guides of the Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum. The event was inaugurated by a lecture by Father Desbois, Founder of Yahad - In Unum.
Yahad - In Unum (YIU) combines the Hebrew word Yahad, which means “together”, with the Latin phrase In Unum, which means “in one.” Founded in 2004 by Catholic priest Father Patrick Desbois, the organization is dedicated to systematically documenting the mass executions of Jews and Roma killed by German units in Eastern Europe during World War II and identifying the execution sites of the victims.
After in-depth archival research within the Soviet and German archives, YIU researchers move to the field in Eastern Europe, travelling from village to village to seek out witnesses to the Nazi atrocities, film interviews, document the events and locate mass graves of Jews and Roma people. The objective of this work is to: record and document the “Holocaust by Bullets” or the mass executions of Jews that happened outside Nazi concentration camps; provide evidence of mass executions to negate modern-day Holocaust denial; provide dignity and respect to the victims’ burial places and enable their preservation; disseminate and educate on the universal lessons about genocide derived from the work of YIU.
Yahad-In Unum’s ongoing research on crimes against the Jews and Roma in Eastern Europe during World War II has uncovered the location of more than 2,365 killing sites, which was made possible through interviews with more than 5,728 witnesses. To date, the organization has conducted 135 investigation trips across 8 countries: Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Romania, Lithuania and Republic of Macedonia.
In 2015, Yahad - In Unum went to Iraqi Kurdistan to interview Yazidi victims of ISIS, who have been persecuted since the invasion of the Sinjar Mountains in August 2014. A YIU team collects the testimonies of survivors to document evidence of every step of the Yazidi genocide.
The Holocaust by Bullets
More than 2 million Jews were killed by German units in the occupied territories of Soviet Union between 1941 and 1944, mostly during mass shooting operations. This criminal method of murder by special firing squads has come to be known as the “Holocaust by bullets.” The systematic killing of Jews started throughout the former Soviet Union from June 1941, before the creation of the death camps, and continued despite the existence of the gas chambers. While Auschwitz has become a symbol of the Holocaust, the stories of thousands of Jewish communities from former Soviet territories killed in mass graves remain less known.
"The entire first phase of the Shoah, which took place on the occupied eastern territories of the Republic of Poland, nowadays mainly part of Belarus and Ukraine, has been for decades - especially in Western Europe - much less known than the horrors committed in extermination centers such as Birkenau, Treblinka or Bełżec. In fact, a large part of this memory survived in documents, letters and the memories of Jewish communities in these areas. Memory also survived among the local people who live there - Ukrainians, Belarusians and Poles. Using this local memory for historical research has been a great undertaking of the team led by Father Patrick Desbois for many years,” explains Piotr Cywinski, the Director of Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Yahad - In Unum led the first "Holocaust By Bullets Training for Guides" at the Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum
Father Patrick Desbois opening the training session. All photos in the article: Yahad - In Unum