Farmington Hills, Mich. (PRWEB) June 12, 2016
The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus will present the exhibition, “Holocaust by Bullets, Yahad-In Unum - 10 Years of Investigations,” Wednesday, June 15 through Friday, December 30. Based on 10 years of research and investigation by the French organization Yahad-In Unum (YIU) and its founder, Father Patrick Desbois, the exhibit chronicles the lesser-known side of the Holocaust through eyewitness testimonies, photographs and maps.
To commemorate the launch of the exhibition, the Center will host an opening event at 7 p.m. on June 14 featuring YIU Director Marco Gonzalez, who will speak on “learning from the past to fight genocide and mass killing today.” There will be a dessert reception following the presentation.
Known as “Holocaust by Bullets,” the systematic killing of all Jews and Roma started before the creation of concentration camps and took place throughout the former Soviet Union from 1942 to 1944, continuing until the end of World War II. The form of genocide detailed by the exhibit is unlike any other study of genocidal activity ever conducted and presented.
In “Holocaust by Bullets,” which will be available in both English and Spanish, visitors will follow YIU’s identification of the dehumanizing steps that took place almost systematically for every mass killing throughout Eastern Europe. Along with the installation, extended video of eyewitness testimonies will be available.
“In this exhibit, the visitor becomes a ‘witness’ to the heinous crimes of the Nazi death squads,” said Father Desbois. “Some of the images are, of course, disturbing, but we tried to present them in a thoughtful and discreet fashion. However, it is important for everyone to experience and learn from these crimes because the world is still consumed with the disease of genocide.”
In Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur, the Balkans and Syria, such mass killings are modeled after what Father Desbois calls the archetype of these horrors – the village-by-village, on site massacres perpetrated by the Nazis and their collaborators in Eastern Europe.
“We are honored to host such an important and thought provoking exhibition at the Holocaust Memorial Center,” said Cheryl Guyer, Interim Executive Director, Holocaust Memorial Center. “The Holocaust by Bullets exhibit allows our visitors to reflect on what has happened, and at the same time learn from the past so that we can prevent future tragedies from occurring.”
The exhibit, which is free with museum admission or membership, is supported by Nancy and James Grosfeld, Sue and Nelson Hersh, Michael Liebowitz, Martina Venter and Frithjof Oldorff, Dorothy and Hershel Sandberg, Susan Malinowski and Gary Shapiro, Anita and Kenneth Volk, Henrietta and Alvin Weisberg, Stacey and Marc Wittenberg, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Space is limited. RSVP to Hannah Iwrey at 248-553-2400, ext. 112 or contact 248-553-2400 for additional information or questions.
Background
Between 1942 and 1944, more than two million Jews were massacred when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. In a period of two-and-half years, the Nazis killed nearly every Jew in the region. The mass murder was part of the Holocaust, Hitler’s genocide of the Jewish people. Until recently, this chapter of Holocaust history, referred to as the “Holocaust by Bullets,” was relatively unknown. To date, Yahad-In Unum has identified more than 1,700 mass killing sites and interviewed over 4,000 local, non-Jewish eyewitnesses in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Romania, Republic of Macedonia and Poland.
About Yahad – In Unum
Yahad – In Unum combines the Hebrew word “Yahad,” meaning “together,” with the Latin phrase “In Unum,” meaning “in one.” Founded in 2004 by Father Patrick Desbois, the organization is dedicated to systematically identifying and documenting the sites of Jewish mass executions by Nazi mobile-killing units in Eastern Europe during World War II. Yahad-In-Unum is not a politically affiliated organization, nor does it advocate any political, economic or military action be taken by any group or nation. Rather, its mission is to uncover facts of genocidal practices wherever they are found and provide a voice of protest on behalf of all victims and potential victims of genocide. For more information please visit http://www.yahadinunum.org.
About Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus
The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus opened in 1984.
Local Holocaust survivors, with community support, founded the museum to teach about the senseless murder of millions, and why everyone must respect and stand up for the rights of others if the world is to prevent future discrimination, hate crime and genocide. As Michigan’s only Holocaust museum, the Holocaust Memorial Center annually touches the lives of more than 65,000 individuals, who leave the museum profoundly affected with a newly acquired sense of history, social responsibility and morality. The Holocaust Memorial Center’s exhibits create a call to action, teaching visitors through the examples of those who risked their lives to save others, and asking its guests to react to contemporary challenges such as racism, intolerance, bullying and prejudice.
For more information on the Holocaust Memorial Center, visit http://www.holocaustcenter.org or call 248-553-2400.