Presentation in the U.S. at Keene State College As part of a series of October meetings in the U.S., Father Desbois visited New Hampshire’s Keene State College to deliver the 14th Annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture before a crowd of 350 people at the Cohen Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies. The visit also included working meetings, a lively session with students majoring in Holocaust and Genocide studies for whom the book “Holocaust by Bullets” is part of their assigned coursework and an interview with National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

Yahad opens research work in Moldova Yahad undertook its first research trip in Moldova in October to trace the history of the Holocaust by bullets in the narrow country wedged between Romania and Ukraine. Rural, hilly and with remnants of its Soviet past still evident, the country is the poorest in Europe in terms of GDP and one of the smallest geographically. It’s large Jewish population, particularly around the city of Kishinev (today the capital city, Chișinău) prior to the war and the country’s location directly in the path of Hitler’s invading forces resulted in a disproportionately high number of executions in Moldova. In addition to Jewish victims, the research team also located mass graves of Roma shot by the Nazis. Witnesses told the team in one town that while the nomadic Roma were rounded up and shot, sedentary Roma were protected by their neighbors. One witness, an elderly Roma woman, recounted memories of Jewish life in her village before the war and the mass shooting of the local Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators; it was the first time that Yahad researchers have heard testimony from a Roma witness about an execution of Jewish victims. Additional trips are planned in 2012 to continue the research into the country’s relatively unexplored wartime history.

New York conference, “In the tracks of memory” An international conference dedicated to diseases of memory and the implications for the history of the Second World War take place in New York, November 17-19. The program brings together professionals from multiple disciplines, including historians, educators, physicians, museum curators, scientists and engineers, to explore the topic, “Memory and Memorialization – Representing Trauma and War.” Sponsors include CNRS, New York University, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum and the Caen Memorial; the program is supported by the French Embassy in the U.S. Father Desbois will participate in a panel discussion on the “Archaeology of Memory” during the conference.

Viewing Russia at war Twentieth-century Soviet history before and during World War II will be the subject of a discussion with historian Nicolas Werth, a member of Yahad Scientific Committee, on December 15 in Paris. As part of Yahad’s “Thursdays at CERRESE” series, Father Desbois will interview Nicolas Werth about the history as observed, and written about, by his journalist father, Alexander Werth. In addition to publishing his own works, including the recent “Antemchamber to genocide, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, 1917-1922,” Nicolas Werth has translated books written by his father who covered WWII in Russia for the BBC. Additional information is available in the “Events” section of Yahad’s web site or by contacting Johanna Lehr at Yahad:j.lehr@yahadinunum.org.

Geneva presentation At the initiative of a committee of supporters, following a trip with Yahad in Ukraine last spring, a conference on the Holocaust by bullets was held in Geneva at the beginning of November. Master of ceremonies for the event was Alain Jacubowicz, President of France’s LICRA (French association against discrimination and anti-Semitism). Father Desbois made a presentation regarding “The Holocaust by bullets” before a large gathering of interested citizens as well as to journalists at the Swiss Press Club earlier in the day. The event was supported by political representatives, including Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer, members of Geneva’s City Council of the City of Geneva, as well as representatives from a range of religious denominations, including Bishop Pierre Farine, of the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg and Imam Youssef Ibram, imam of the Grand Mosque of Geneva.

Recent Yahad field investigations (click highlighted links to read reports)
December 2010	Belarus	Grodno	May – June 2010	Ukraine	Dnepropetrovsk
December 2010	Ukraine	Tcherkassy	April – May, 2010	Belarus	Baranovitchi
December 2010	Ukraine	Dnepropetrovsk	March 2010/	Belarus	Baranovitchi
November 2010	Belarus	Grodno	January 2010	Ukraine	Podolia
November 2010	Russia	Bryansk	December 2009	Russia	Smolensk
August 2010	Ukraine	Vinnytsia	October 2009	Russia	Smolensk
July 2010	Poland	Lublin	August 2009	Belarus	Pinsk
June – July 2010	Ukraine	Dnepropetrovsk	May 2009	Ukraine	Ternopil

Meet Team Yahad Each month, we profile one of the dedicated team members who help make the work of Yahad – In Unum possible. Based at Yahad’s headquarters in Paris, Marina Durteste provides support to Father Desbois and Executive Director, Marco Gonzalez, and performs a range of administrative functions, including budgeting, preparing financial reports and assisting with human resource management. Born in Saint Petersburg, and fluent in Russian, French and English, she also works on Russian-language files for Yahad and has served as an interpreter during research trips in Ukraine and Belarus. Prior to joining Yahad in 2009, Marina worked for a Russian cultural association in Paris and for an international accounting firm, following studies in Slavic cultures at the Sorbonne. She says that as a mother, she reflects on the opportunity provided by her work with Yahad to work toward a world for future generations, hopefully freed from the atrocities of the past. “Thanks to Yahad, I feel like I’m contributing to a better tomorrow, as well as helping provide a bridge to the history of their past for the families of victims.”

Upcoming public events París – two sessions of the seminar “Writing the history of the Holocaust” (in French and open to the public) will be held in November: November 9 on “Hitler, the extermination process and preparing the final solution” and November 23 on “Planning the war against the USSR.” The sessions are from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the sale des Résistants at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris.  Yahad contact: Marie Moutier: m.moutier@yahadinunum.org   París- Father Desbois will interview historian Nicolas Werth about Soviet history before and during World War II as observed, and written about, by his journalist father, Alexander Werth, December 15 at “Thursdays at CERRESE” at Yahad, 114 Boulevard de Magenta 75010. Contact Johanna Lehr for more information: j.lehr@yahadinunum.org.   read more about daily Yahad activities on Yahadblog read recent press articles about Yahad-In Unum read past issues of Yahad-In Unum News send your comments about Yahad–In Unum News