The Holocaust By Bullets

Father Patrick Desbois, The Holocaust By Bullets, 2008
Father Patrick Desbois documents the sites where Jews were exterminated by Nazi mobile units in the Ukraine in WWII. Using interviews, and ballistic evidence, he has determined the location of many mass gravesites. He was shocked to find that most of these executions occurred in site of the towns people, not in forests far from populations. It seems the Nazis were afraid of partisans in the woods so thay stayed near town. Most of the people interviewed had been children at the time the executions took place. Many of their relatives were "requisitioned" by the Nazis to help guard, dig pits, tamp down the bodies with their feet (like grapes), etc.. Desbois has put together the first definitive account of one of history's bloodiest chapters. I have read many books on the holocaust that occurred in the large camps. I have even visited Auschwitz. But in many ways this story is more shocking as it took place with so many witnesses. The killing of small children is especially wrenching. This book was published with the support of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Another place I visited.