Hannah Rosenthal recognizes the work of Father Patrick Desbois 2011-05-12

Patrick Desbois (born 1955, in

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefectu ...

) is a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, former head of the Commission for Relations with

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

of the French Bishops' Conference and consultant to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

. He is the founder of the

Yahad-In Unum Yahad - In Unum (YIU) (“Together in One”) is a French organization founded to locate the sites of mass graves of Jewish victims of the Nazi mobile killing units, especially the ''Einsatzgruppen'', in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Poland, Lithuania ...

, an organization dedicated to locating the sites of mass graves of Jewish victims of the Nazi mobile-killing units in the former Soviet Union. He received the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, France's highest honor and the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

(Cross of Merit 1st Class), Germany's highest honor for his work with

documenting the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.

Education

Desbois attended the Université de Dijon, graduating with a degree in mathematics in 1977. He entered the Grand Seminary of Prado in 1981 and was ordained as a priest in 1986. That same year he earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

from the

Catholic University of Lyon The Catholic University of Lyon (UCLy), also known as the Lyon Catholic Institute ( French: ''Institut Catholique de Lyon''), is a French private university based in Lyon and Annecy, Southeastern France. History The Lyon Catholic University has ...

. In 2024, he defended his PhD thesis in history at the

Cergy-Pontoise University Cergy-Pontoise University (, ) was a French university, located in Cergy-Pontoise, France. On 1 January 2020, the university merged with the International School of Information Processing Sciences (EISTI) and the University of Paris-Seine to fo ...

Career

In 1978, Father Desbois worked as a math teacher for the French government in Africa. He later worked for

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

in Calcutta, where he helped set up homes for the dying. In 1986, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the priesthood. In 1992, he became the Superior of the Grand Seminary in Prado, Lyon. From 1992-99, he served as Secretary of Jewish Relations for Cardinals

Albert Decourtray Albert Florent Augustin Decourtray S.T.D. (9 April 1923 – 16 September 1994) was a French Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Lyon. Biography Early life He was born in the hamlet of L'Amiteuse near Lille, France. He entered the minor semin ...

, Jean Balland and

Louis-Marie Billé Louis-Marie Billé (18 February 1938 – 12 March 2002) was a French clergyman, archbishop of Lyon from 6 September 1998 and a cardinal until his death in office. Life Billé was born in Orléans to Gabriel Léandre François Victor Bi ...

. After he requested to work with the Jewish community of France, he was appointed secretary to the French conference of Bishops for Relations with the Jewish community from 1999 to 2016. Since 2016 he is a ''chargé de mission'' of the Cardinal of Paris. He serves as well as advisor to the

on relations with

. In 2004, he joined leaders in the French Catholic and Jewish community in founding Yahad-In Unum ("together" in Hebrew and in Latin.) The organization's purpose is to further relations between Catholics and Jews. Its largest and most ambitious initiative is to locate the sites of mass graves of Jewish victims of the Nazi mobile killing units, the ''

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the imp ...

'', in the former Soviet republics and Eastern bloc. His work has been sanctioned by the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, recognized and encouraged by the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

and supported in Europe and the United States. Desbois has been internationally recognized for his extraordinary efforts; his awards include the Medal of Valor by the

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...

, the Roger E. Joseph Prize by

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

, the Humanitarian Award by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Jan Karski Award by the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

, the

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International ( ; from ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit Jewish service organization and was formerly a cultural association for German Jewish immigrants to the United States. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the se ...

International Award for Outstanding Contribution to Relations with the Jewish People and more recently, the

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

for his 2008 book '' Holocaust by Bullets'' (Palgrave-Macmillan). In 2013, he received the LBJ Moral Courage Award from the

Holocaust Museum Houston The Holocaust Museum Houston is located in Houston's Museum District, in Texas. It is the fourth largest holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, Eur ...

. Between 2015 and 2016, he taught at the Program for Jewish Civilization in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

as an adjunct professor. Since 2016 he is the inaugural holder of the Braman Endowed Professorship of the Practice of the Forensic Study of the Holocaust at the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University.

Work with Yahad–In Unum

Father Desbois' interest in the Holocaust started at a young age, because his grandfather, who helped raise him, was a French soldier who had been deported to the Nazi prison camp in

Rava-Ruska Rava-Ruska (, ; ; ) is a city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is a border town between Ukraine and Poland. The Rava-Ruska (border checkpoint), border checkpoint is situated west of the city, along the international autoroute Warsa ...

during World War II. His grandfather did not speak much of his time in the camp, and Father Desbois remained curious about the Holocaust and its victims. As a consequence of his childhood interests, Father Desbois studied the Jewish faith while preparing for his ordination as a Catholic priest. He studied anti-semitism at Yad-Vashem, and later Jewish religion and culture with Dr Charles Favre, a leader in the

French Jewish The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but Persecution of Jews, persecution increased over time, includ ...

community. In 2002, he traveled to Ukraine, so he could see where his grandfather had been imprisoned during the war, and to pay respects at a memorial to the lives lost. Upon his arrival, he was shocked to discover that there existed not a single marking or commemoration to 1.25 million Jewish victims in all of Ukraine and Belarus. Speaking of his initial experience, Desbois narrated how:

In 2002, while traveling in
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, he visited the site of his grandfather's imprisonment, Rawa-Ruska. Desbois knew that before World War II more than 15,000 Jews had lived in the town, but when he asked to see where they had been murdered, the mayor brushed him off and said no one knew anything about it. "How could more than 10,000 Jews be killed in the village and nobody knows?" he says. "I knew I needed to find out what happened. So I came back two times, three times, four times to Rawa-Ruska. And then the mayor lost the election and a new mayor was elected, much less Soviet." The new mayor led Desbois to the forest where, Desbois says, approximately 50 elderly men and women of the village were gathered in a semicircle. "You are standing on the graves of the last 1,500 Jews of Rawa-Ruska," the mayor said. One by one the villagers stepped forward and told of their experiences during World War II. They told of how the Jews were marched out to this clearing, forced to dig steep pits and hand over their valuables before being shot. They recounted stories of how the Germans had forced them – children or teenagers at the time – to guard the Jews to prevent them from escaping, to cover the corpse-filled pits, to serve the German soldiers food and even bring them a gramophone so they could listen to music. Desbois recalls one woman – "an old lady with a blue scarf" – who tearfully told him, "I was at my farm, I was 14, and they told me, 'Come, come' and I had to climb in the trees and pick up pieces of corpses and hide them with branches in the grave so that the next Jews will not see them. And then there arrived trucks and trucks and trucks of Jews from Rawa-Ruska." Following these revelations, the villagers told Desbois they had never before publicly spoken of what had happened. Many asked the priest before he left, "Why are you coming so late? We have been waiting for you."

In order to right the egregious wrong, Father Desbois helped found

in 2004. The organization collects information about the mass killing of Jews and Roma in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

between 1941 and 1944. Local contemporary witnesses are interviewed about the mass shootings which took place next to their home and the mass graves are located. Desbois estimates that there are no less than 1 million victims buried in 1,200 graves in Ukraine. Desbois conducts many of the interviews with the witnesses himself (and with translators). Using metal detectors, Desbois and his team have unearthed German cartridges and bullets from the pits where bodies were thrown, as well as jewelry belonging to the victims. Criticisms leveled against Father Desbois include his acceptance of the confessions of complicity in war crimes by those whom he interviews. Professor

Omer Bartov Omer Bartov ( ; born 1954) is an Israeli-American historian. He is the Dean's Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, where he has taught since 2000. Bartov is a historian of the Holocaust and is considered a leading au ...

has stated: "Desbois doesn't ask a lot of the people that he speaks with. ...He gives the impression that it was the Germans doing all the killing, but in fact much of the organization of the genocide had a lot to do with auxiliary and local police forces. He is not interested in that". Paul Shapiro of the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust, dedicated to the documentation, study, and interpretation of the Holocaust. Opened in 1993, the museum explores the Holocaust through p ...

has countered that: "Some people have been critical of his methodology, but no one else is going out and doing this kind of work. It is easy to be critical; it is much harder to have the drive, stamina and commitment to go again and again to these places." In March 2014, French president

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

praised the work of Father Desbois:

A moment ago, you honored Father Patrick Desbois. Through his own family history, he discovered the tragedy of
Ukrainian Jews The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jews, Jewish communities have existed in the modern territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Important Jewish religious and cultura ...
. He worked for the recognition of the 'Holocaust by Bullets' because the Holocaust had begun even before the camps, and furthermore, not only in Ukraine. It is very important to know how the genocidal process began, and how it came to the extermination camps.

In July 2017,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

sent a blessing and a message of encouragement to Father Desbois and Yahad-In Unum, writing:

The Holy Father encourages the members of ‘Yahad-In Unum’ to continue their struggle for the just recognition of the violence suffered by so many men and women belonging to different communities.

Work on Documenting Genocide in Ukraine

Since March 2022, Patrick Desbois, has been investigating Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. His organization has expanded its focus to Ukraine, where they have conducted hundreds of interviews with victims and witnesses of Russian atrocities. Debois and his team have been documenting the systematic use of torture by Russian forces in areas such as

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

Irpin Irpin (, ) is a city on the Irpin River in Bucha Raion, Kyiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. It is located next to the capital Kyiv. Irpin hosts the administration of Irpin urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The city has a population o ...

, and the

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

region. According to his findings, the tortures were part of a broader strategy aimed at destroying Ukrainian identity. The goal was not only to extract information but to force victims to abandon their Ukrainian identity and align with Russian ideology. This form of psychological and physical abuse, including threats against family members, has been seen as a form of genocide. One of the key reports released by "Yahad-In Unum" highlights the scale and methodical nature of these crimes. According to Desbois, the Russian forces aimed to erase the cultural and national identity of the Ukrainian people, which is a central element of genocide as defined by international law. In his research, Desbois draws parallels between the current situation in Ukraine and past genocides, including the tactics used by Nazi forces during the Holocaust and ISIS against the Yazidis. Desbois' organization is working with international legal bodies, including the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

and the

Public Prosecutor General (Germany) The Public Prosecutor General at the Federal Court of Justice ( or BA ) is the federal prosecutor of Germany, representing the federal government at the ''Bundesgerichtshof'', the federal court of justice. The office of the Public Prosecutor ...

, to ensure that these crimes are documented and prosecuted. The organization has collected substantial evidence to support claims of genocide, including testimonies from victims who were subjected to brutal interrogations and psychological manipulation.

Work with Action Yazidis

Action

Yazidis Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish languages, Kurdish-speaking Endogamy, endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The major ...

is led by Patrick Desbois and collects the words of survivors to document and offer evidence of every step of the

genocide of Yazidis by ISIL The Yazidi genocide was perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017. It was characterized by massacres, genocidal rape, and forced conversions to Islam. The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking people who are indigenous t ...

. Father Desbois was interviewed in Sinjar in 2016 by

Lara Logan Lara Logan (born 29 March 1971) is a South African television and radio journalist and war correspondent. Her career began with various South African news organizations in the 1990s. Her public profile rose due to her reports on the American i ...

on an episode of

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

. Until July 2018, nearly 300 semi-directive interviews of Yazidi victims of all ages were conducted by Desbois and his team. French president

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

praised his work in November 2017:

I salute the importance and seriousness of the highly documented work you and your association are doing to highlight the gravity of the tragedy of the Yazidi genocide.

Patrick Desbois' book reflecting the work of Action Yazidis (with Costel Nastasie: ''The Terrorist Factory – ISIS, the Yazidi Genocide, and Exporting Terror'') was published in 2018.

Bishop's committee for relations with Judaism

Due to his position as Director of the French Episcopal Conference's Committee for Relations with Judaism, Father Desbois has had to deal with the controversy following negationist comments made by SSPX bishop Richard Williamson. However, since Desbois has positive relations with the Jewish community, he has been able to maintain a great deal of trust during an otherwise difficult period.

Awards

*May 1, 2007: he was honored by the

with its "

Jan Karski Jan Karski (born Jan Kozielewski, 24 June 1914 – 13 July 2000) was a Polish soldier, Polish resistance movement in World War II, resistance-fighter, and diplomat during World War II. He is known for having acted as a courier in 1940–1943 to ...

Award" for his "efforts to identify the mass graves of Jewish victims of the

Shoah The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

" and "his dedication to furthering understanding between

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

and

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Press Releases - American Jewish Committee
* May 4, 2008: Rabbi

David Ellenson David Ellenson (June 25, 1947 – December 7, 2023) was an American rabbi and academic who was known as a leader of the Reform movement in Judaism. Ellenson was director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and visiting professor of Near ...

handed over the ''Roger E. Joseph Prize'' to Desbois in New Yor

* May 7, 2008: At the annual National Tribute Dinner the

in Los Angeles presented the ''Jewish Medal of Valor'' to Desbois for his commitment to religious tolerance and cooperatio

* June 12, 2008: He received the

for his work on the Holocaus

* October 9, 2008: He won the Shofar of Freedom Awardbr>Annual Shofar of Freedom Awards presented today
*2008: He won a

for ''The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews'' * May 12, 2009:

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the

Bar Ilan Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 s ...

University (Israel
Bar-Ilan University - BIU , Israel
* 2008: Recipient of the

Jewish Book Council The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of quali ...

* June 7, 2009:

from the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

(Israel
Catholic.co.il
* May 16, 2012:

from the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(United States
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to Speak at NYU’s 2012 Commencement
* May 3, 2013:

from the

University of Winnipeg The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW, or U of W) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It offers undergraduate programs in art, business, economics, education, science and applied health as well as graduate progra ...

(Canada
Honouring Human Rights Leaders Roméo Dallaire and Father Patrick Desbois
* 2013: LBJ Moral Courage Award from the

* March 4, 2014: he was honored by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (

Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (CRIF) () is an umbrella organization of other groups representing the interests of History of the Jews in France, French Jews. Overview It is the official France, French affiliate of th ...

) with its Awar
Le Prix du CRIF 2014 attribué au Père Patrick Desbois
* May 21, 2015:

from the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism as well as a hub for academic scholarship in Jewish studies ...

(United States
The Jewish Theological Seminary - JTS Announces 2015 Commencement Honorary Degree Recipients
* April 28, 2017:

from the

St. Francis College St. Francis College (St. Francis of Brooklyn or SFC) is a private Franciscan college in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded in 1859 by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn as the St. Francis Academy and was the first private school ...

(United State
News Post
* October 24, 2017:

Tom Lantos Thomas Peter Lantos (born Tamás Péter Lantos; February 1, 1928 – February 11, 2008) was a Hungarian-born American politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from California from 1981 until his deat ...

Human Rights Prize from the Lantos Foundatio
2017 Prize - Father Patrick Desbois
* November 8, 2018: Anti-Defamation League Award at the ADL In Concert Against Hat

* March 26, 2019:

Raphael Lemkin Raphael Lemkin (; 24 June 1900 – 28 August 1959) was a Polish lawyer who is known for coining the term "genocide" and for campaigning to establish the Genocide Convention, which legally defines the act. Following the German invasion of Poland ...

Award for exemplary work in the fight against genocide in honor of his dedication to investigating and exposing crimes of genocide around the world from the

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations, founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress's main purpose is to act as ...

and the Permanent Mission of

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

br>World Jewish Congress
* January 25, 2023: Annetje Fels-Kupferschmidt Award from the Dutch Auschwitz Committe
Nooit Meer Auschwitz lezing
* June 12, 2023:

(Cross of Merit 1st Class

* February 5th, 2024: Eternal Flame award from the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas
Renowned Researchers Highlight Holocaust Studies at 54th ASC

Publications (english)

*Father Patrick Desbois, ''The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews'', English translation by Catherine Spencer. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. (trade paper edition) *Father Patrick Desbois, ''In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures behind the Holocaust by Bullets'', English translation by Hilary Reyl and Calvert Barksdale. New York:

Skyhorse Publishing Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont. History The current president and publisher is founder Tony Ly ...

, 2018. (hardback) *Father Patrick Desbois and Costel Nastasie, ''The Terrorist Factory: ISIS, the Yazidi Genocide, and Exporting Terror'', English translation by. New York:

, 2018. (hardback)

References

External links

Official website

Yahad-In Unum's site

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071223025702/http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/index.php?content=20071108 Interview with Father Desboisfrom the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desbois, Patrick 1955 births Living people People from Chalon-sur-Saône French Roman Catholic priests

Education

Career

Work with Yahad–In Unum

Work on Documenting Genocide in Ukraine

Work with Action Yazidis

Bishop's committee for relations with Judaism

Awards

Publications (english)

See also

References

External links