70 Years after the Holocaust: Memory Matters Father Patrick Desbois Speaks at Evening of Holocaust Remembrance

In Douma, Syria, a horrific poison gas attack takes 60 lives and injures thousands more.  Once again, we are confronted by the inhumanity of humanity.  With suffering and death, murder and brutality, in the here and now, why bother to remember what occurred more than 70 years ago?

In his latest book, In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures behind the Holocaust by Bullets, Father Patrick Desbois, who will speak at the annual Evening of Holocaust Remembrance at Chapman University on Thursday, April 12, at 7 p.m., reflects on that question and much more.  In his chilling account of genocide efficiency, he writes: “And why is it necessary not to sleep well today, seventy years after the Shoah? Quite simply, because our genocidal sickness, mass murder disguised as morality, is still with us.” (p. 253).

Twice profiled on “60 Minutes,” Father Desbois has devoted his life to uncovering the secrets of genocide.  Through the organization he founded in 2004, Yahad-In Unum, “Together in One,” he and his researchers have interviewed more than 5,300 eyewitnesses to the murder of Jews and Roma during the Holocaust and located more than 2,100 execution sites throughout Eastern Europe.  Honored in 2017 with the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize, Father Desbois received the 2008 National Jewish Book Award for his first book, The Holocaust by Bullets. 

The Wall Street Journal writes:  “Father Desbois is a generation too late to save lives. Instead, he has saved memory and history.”

Join us to hear Father Desbois share his reflections on why memory matters. Holocaust survivors and witnesses will attend this event that will also include the lighting of memorial candles and tributes in music.  Book signing of The Holocaust by Bullets and In Broad Daylight will follow.  More information about this event is available on the Chapman Calendar.

Admission is free. No tickets/reservations required.
Reserved seating is available for groups of 10 or more.
Contact Ashley Bloomfield at (714) 532-7760 or ambloom@chapman.edu to make group reservations