–Yahad - In Unum News

No. 8July 2010


Introducing…the Yahad blog

As part of Yahad’s continuing effort to increase awareness and understanding of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, we are adding an interactive blog to provide real-time reporting of activities and events.  The blog will launch in August with a series of daily postings that follows a Yahad research team on the ground, investigating the Drogobytch region of Ukraine beginning on August 10.  Click here to read the introductory article and bookmark the page to follow the reporting and participate in the dialogue.

Jewish remains protected in Dnepropetrovsk

An article on the web site of the Friends of the Jewish Community of Dnepropetrovsk reports on a joint effort with a Yahad research team to restore the sanctity of Jewish remains that had been disturbed.  The researchers discovered the remains in the course of an investigation in the local region.  The remains are believed to have been part of an extensive, former Jewish cemetery that had disappeared sometime in the first half of the last century.  Yahad’s rabbinical advisor, Mendel Samama was on hand to help guide the respectful restoration of the remains to the earth, in consultation with rabbinical authorities. 
read article

Educating future generations 

European teachers listen to Yahad team member, and French high school history teacher, Pierre-Philippe Preux (right) and Ukrainian professor Alexander Kruglov (center) discuss techniques for presenting “The Holocaust by Bullets“ in the classroom.

High school teachers from six European countries attended a two day seminar at Yahad this month to hear from experts on the Holocaust in Eastern Europe during the Second World War.   Yahad invited history teachers from high schools throughout Europe to the first in a planned series of seminars aimed at increasing educators’ understanding of — and ability to teach — the subject to their students.

In addition to descriptions of Yahad’s research methods and results, participants heard presentations on the organization and operations of the Nazi’s Einsatzgruppen mobile killing units, the training of Ukrainian policemen, protection of graves under Jewish religious laws and the early roots of Holocaust denial.

German radio recounts early Yahad turning point

“Suddenly, the mayor changed his mind…,” says Father Desbois as he tells German radio station, Hessischer Rundfunk, of one of the dramatic discoveries at the outset of his and Yahad’s investigations.  The first trips to Rawa-Ruska, home to the prison camp in which Father Desbois’ grandfather had been held, are part of an interview broadcast this month, the transcripts for which are posted on Yahad’s press page in German, French and English.
read the transcript

Father Desbois on France Culture radio August 22

Father Desbois pictured with France Culture radio’s (from left) Jacques Attali, Stéphanie Bonvicini and Gilles Davidas (photo by Frank Le Petit)

A radio interview with Father Desbois on the theme of “Consolation in the face of outrage,” will be broadast on the national radio station, France Culture, on August 22  at 19h00.  The hosts of the program, “Sens des choses,” Jacques Attali and Stephanie Bonvicini interviewed Father Desbois along with Gilles Davidas, part of the station’s production team, who recounts the moving story of what his own family experienced in 1943.  More information on the broadcast can be found on France Culture’s website.

Yahad’s Thursday’s at CERRESE series continues in October with Frederic Encel

The fall season of Thursday’s at CERRESE kicks off on October 21 when Father Desbois hosts Frederic  Encel, noted author, international relations professor and expert on geopolitics who will speak on “__________.“  Additional information on the program will be available on Yahad’s web site in September.

During its first six months, Yahad’s Thursday’s at CERRESE program has featured a wide array of speakers as part of the mission to present perspectives about the Holocaust emanating today from different disciplines: history, sociology, political science, geopolitics, art, literature and psychoanalysis.  Among the sessions:

•    Suzanne-Brown Fleming’s discussion of research results from the secret archives from the Third Reich era opened by the Vatican (see YIUN N°7);
•    Author, sociologist and CNRS researcher Gérard Rabinovitch speaking on “The Behemoth and the destructive drive in human society.”
•    Author Michel Gurfinkiel on “The status under Jewish religious law of the remains of Holocaust victims.”
•     Psychoanalyst Jean-Jacques Moscovitz on “Witnessing and the relationship to truth.”
Videos, of the presentations (in French) by Msgrs. Rabinovitch, Gurfinkiel and Moscovitz can be viewed by clicking on Les Jeudis du CERRESE and scrolling down the page.

Father Desbois introducing Suzanne Brown-Fleming who presented on Research from the Vatican Archives at the June session of Thursday’s at CERRESE, held at the College des Bernardins in Paris.

Yahad donating artifacts to New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage

A number of artifacts from the Eastern Holocaust are being donated to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York where they will become part of the institute’s permanent exhibition.  Opened in September, 1997, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust helps visitors gain a vital perspective on 20th century Jewish history. Created as a living memorial to those who perished during the Holocaust, our Museum honors those who died by celebrating their lives - cherishing the traditions that they embraced, examining their achievements and faith, and affirming the vibrant worldwide Jewish community that is their legacy today.
visit the museum’s web site

Meet Team Yahad

Jessica Solis, a senior at Johns Hopkins University interning at Yahad – In Unum recording witness comments during a research trip in Ukraine.

Each  month, we profile one of the dedicated team members who help make the work of Yahad – In Unum possible.

A senior majoring in Romance Languages and Spanish, French and Portuguese literature at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, Jessica Solis is interning at Yahad for her second consecutive summer.  Her work at Yahad has included helping respond to requests for information on missing family members and translating trip summaries and excerpts of witness testimonials into English.  This month, she traveled to the Ukraine as part of a Yahad research team investigating the region around Dnepropetrovsk with “script” responsibility, documenting and summarizing each day’s witness testimony and comparing it with archival records. The 17-day trip reinforced her impression of team members’ dedication and provided a new understanding of Yahad’s work.  “It’s one thing to read the testimonies in the office and quite another to hear it directly from a witness showing you an empty field where a Jewish village once existed,” she said.  “I still have the images in my head.  I doubt they’ll go away soon.”

Upcoming public events

• Paris: Author Frederic Encel will be the speaker at the next Thursday’s at CERRESE  on October 21
  more information
  
• U.S.: Events in the U.S. in September-October     TO BE COMPLETED
  
• Mexico City: Inauguration of permanent exhibition Memorial and Tolerance Museum, November __, 2010
  more information
  
• French Culture Radio broadcast: August 22 at 7:00 p.m., broadcast of interview with Father Desbois
  more information
  
• Montreal: Keynote speech by Father Desbois at the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs, October 5
  more information