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Holocaust Hero
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A18
February 19 • 2009 AN
Oil NI
Priest documents Nazis' victims.
Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
W
hen Patrick Desbois was
a little boy, his grandfa-
ther — a World War II
prisoner of war — would tell stories
about mass shootings of Jews. Patrick
became Father Desbois, who lives in
Paris and has devoted much of his
life to discovering the truth about the
more than 1.5 million Jews killed by
Nazi mobile units.
Desbois, author of The Holocaust
by Bullets, will speak at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit in West
Bloomfield as part
of its Seminars
for Adult Jewish
Enrichment (SAJE).
For eight years,
Desbois has used
forensic evi-
dence, eyewitness
Father Desbois
accounts, archi-
val material and
ballistic evidence as he crisscrossed
Nazi killing fields in search of Jewish
graves. As a Catholic priest, he gained
unprecedented access to the local
population — many spoke for the first
time about the crimes they witnessed.
"Patrick Desbois epitomizes the
Righteous Gentile said SAJE Chair
Nancy Finkel. "His concern to set the
record straight about those who lost
their lives during the Holocaust is
remarkable. His subject matter is not
pleasant, but his desire to reveal the
truth and be a compassionate listener
is truly worthy!'
Desbois "restores one's faith in
humanity," said Dr. Charles Silow, a
psychologist who works with sur-
vivors and their families. He and
his wife, Sarah Hartman-Silow of
Huntington Woods, had visited a small
field in Belarus where thousands of
Jews were murdered by the Nazis.
"We must continue to publicize the
enormity of these crimes so that they
will never be forgotten:' Slow said.
"Father Desbois' work is very
important in alerting us to the
Holocaust at its beginning in the
Ukraine," said Ken Waltzer, direc-
tor of Jewish Studies at Michigan
State University. "Here, the Nazi Final
Solution was implemented in brutal
fashion with bullets, not as later in
Poland and other nations by deporta-
tions to fixed killing installations.
"Father Desbois has interviewed
over 800 witnesses and discovered
numerous unknown mass graves in
the many places where Nazis killed
Jews. He is now extending his research
to Belarus and other parts of the for-
mer Soviet Union."
Desbois' "work reminds us that the
gas chambers and death camps were
not the central features of the Nazi
Holocaust; it was the radical inten-
tion by the Nazis to rid the Earth of a
people that was the key feature."
Desbois heads the Yahad-In Unum
Association that supports common
projects between Jews and Catholics.
He also serves as counsel to the
Vatican on Judaism and Catholic-
Jewish relations.
In his book, he speaks of his com-
mitment to his work, of the anguish
of hearing day after day about murder
and death — and of a little girl named
Dora, who was 41/2 when she was shot
and killed by the Nazis.
Years later, Desbois met Dora's half-
sister, Nina, who showed the priest a
dress — the last Dora had worn. The
Nazis had taken anything of any value,
and left behind just a few items of
children's clothing.
Desbois wrote: "Little Dora's dress is
one of the most poignant elements of
this Shoah that left only a few sparse
clothes, of no value, after having exter-
minated a whole population, even
children, even tiny children."
A dessert reception, book sale
and signing will follow the program.
Advance tickets are $8 for JCC mem-
bers, $10 for non-members and $15
for all tickets at the door. To charge
by phone, call (248) 432-5692. For
information, contact Adina Pergament,
SAJE director, at (248) 432-5470 or
apergament@jccdet.org .
This event is co-sponsored by the
American Jewish Committee, the JCC's
Annual Jewish Book Fair, the JCC's
Distinguished Speakers Series, the
Jewish Community Relations Council
of Metropolitan Detroit, the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit and
WISDOM.
❑
Elizabeth Applebaum is a marketing
specialist at the Jewish Community Center
of Metropolitan Detroit.