YIU President Patrick Desbois’ Visit

Time:2013/6/24 11:50:10        

  On June 15, 2013, Mr. President Patrick Desbois, leadinga delegation of 4 people from Yahad-In Unum (YIU), paid a visit to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.Mr. Desbois had a meeting with Curator Chen Jianconcerning the possible cooperation between YIU and the Museum. He was also interviewed at CaféAtlantic, in the museum, by Shanghai Daily.

  In 2004, YIU was established to systematically identify and document every single site of mass execution of Jewish people by the Nazis in Eastern Europe during World War II (1941-1944). For years, YIU has carried out investigations in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Poland, Romania, and Moldova.They have discovered hundreds of mass graves of the Jewish victims murdered in Eastern Europe and recorded the testimony of more than 3,000 witnesses.Since 2007, ?YIU has held theme exhibitions in France, America, Sweden, and theUkraine, presenting the history,as a warning,of the dangers of genocide to humanity. Now, YIU has built long-term cooperative relationship with the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.,America, the Caen Memorial and the National Scientific Research Center, both located in France.

  Mr. Desboissaid that he had some knowledge ?of the history of Jewish refugees in Shanghai before, but the visit to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum impressed him very much.He commented that the establishment of the Designated Area for Stateless Refugees was a process of the ?Holocaust, and if Japan had not been defeated, the fate of the Jewish community would have been changed drastically. Mr. Desbois said that there’s much more work to be done regarding the Holocaust and World War II, and he plans to extend his research to China. He explained that he is neither Jewish nor Chinese, so his research work is not for a certain country, but to be faithful to the history and to reveal the truth. He is looking forward to finding more evidence to counter false historical claims.

  Mr. Desbois expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museumwith the goal to promote the research and display the history of Jewish refugees in Shanghai. (by Amy Liao)

  

  Curator Chen Jian (left)?is introducing the history to Mr. Desbois (middle)

  

  Interview at Café Atlantic

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