Publications & Reports

Killing Sites: Research and Remembrance

Approximately one-third of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust were murdered in what Father Patrick Desbois has called the ‘Holocaust by bullets’ – mass shootings that largely took place across Eastern Europe in thousands of forests, villages, streets, and homes. In many instances, German perpetrators and their local collaborators eliminated entire communities in a matter of days or even hours.

And yet these Killing Sites remain relatively unknown, both in regional histories and in the larger remembrance of the Holocaust. With the passing of both survivors and witnesses, efforts are underway by a range of actors who are determined to locate and preserve these sites and to name their unidentified victims.

This publication presents the outcomes of an international conference on Killing Sites in Krakow from 22-23 January 2014.

The contributions cover:

  1. Challenges of identifying mass Killing Sites
  2. Tracing the story of each site
  3. Legal, Halakhic (Jewish law), cultural, and political issues
  4. Efforts to involve local people and authorities as well as national authorities in the preservation and commemoration of these sites
  5. Conflicting memories that could lead to distorted commemoration or a desire to forget the events and the mass killings
Download resource in English

Sign up to our newsletter to 

receive the latest updates