Yahad - In Unum, the association chaired by Father Patrick Desbois, in partnership with the Sorbonne University, opened its new European Resource Center for Research and Learning about the Eastern Holocaust (in French CERRESE) in Paris, dedicated to advancing the research on Nazi mass executions of Jews and Roma/Gypsies in Eastern Europe during World War II.  More than 50 dignitaries, including Madame Bernadette Chirac, joined Father Desbois, Sorbonne President George Molinié and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Director, Sara Bloomfield, at the opening.

Yahad - In Unum Director, Marco Gonzalez, welcomes attendees to Resource Center opening.

The Resource Center, the first of its kind in Europe focusing on the Eastern Holocaust, will provide researchers access to Yahad - In Unum’s investigations, including video testimony collected in the field, books about the Holocaust in Eastern Europe written in different languages and archival material, including that provided by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The video stored at the Resource Center will include over 1,200 testimonials of those who witnessed the killings in the Ukraine and Belarus.

Speaking at the opening, President Molinié said, “The Sorbonne is pleased to advance our combined efforts begun in 2005 with Yahad - In Unum and Father Patrick Desbois to increase knowledge and understanding of the acts perpetrated by the Third Reich during the war in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Director Sara J. Bloomfield discussing U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s partnership with Yahad - In Unum.

Yahad - In Unum Director, Marco Gonzalez, commented, “The Center marks another step in our ongoing efforts to share the results of our research with the world in order that these horrific acts of genocide can never be forgotten.

Among those joining Father Desbois, President Molinié, and Sara Bloomfield at the opening ceremony were Catherine Vieu-Charier, deputy to the Mayor of Paris; Stéphane Chmelewsky, Counselor for Religious Affairs, French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs; Deidre Berger, Director of the American Jewish Committee in Berlin; Philippe Allouche, Director of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah; Professor Alexandr Kruglov, a renowned historian from the Ukraine; Dr. Richard Prasquier, President of the CRIF and Vice-President of Yahad - In Unum; Paul Shapiro, Director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies; and Professor Edouard Husson of the Sorbonne, Chairman of the Resource Center’s scientific committee.