Fr. Patrick Desbois, author of  The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews, will speak at a campus event on Sept. 26 at 4:00 p.m. in Higgins Hall 300.

Fr. Desbois, a French Catholic priest, is president of the Yahad-In Unum Association and has devoted his life to confronting anti-Semitism and furthering Catholic-Jewish understanding. Since 2001, he has led a truly historic undertaking. Working closely with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, whose archives are aiding his search, Fr. Desbois and his team have crisscrossed the countryside in Ukraine in an effort to locate every mass grave and site at which Jews were killed during the Holocaust. To date, they have identified 800 of an estimated 2,000 such locations. They are also collecting artifacts and, most significantly, recording video testimonies from eyewitnesses – many of whom are speaking publicly for the first time.

Fr. Desbois’ book, The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews, won the 2008 National Jewish Book Award. Event sponsor is the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at BC.