Holocaust By Father Patrick Desbois: A Brief Summary

In the book, Holocaust by Bullets, Father Patrick Desbois stresses that most of the killings that happened during the Holocaust were not at death or concentration camps, but instead were done in forests and village centers because it was easier to create grave sites locally than travel long distances, and did not care about the repercussions that would hurt the communities that they saw as inferior down the road. The thesis in this work is not clearly stated intentionally, but as he goes through the book he uses the testimonies of those who were requisitioned, as well as his own personal experiences and evidence found in German, Soviet and American archives to come to the conclusion that the Holocaust by Bullets was and is an everyday reality. The first key point that recurs throughout the book, is the belief that the Nazi’s wanted no trace of mass shootings and the burial of Jews. For instance, many of the mass graves had been turned into sand pits, while Germans who had died each had a headstone and a proper burial. Father Desbois found this out by exploring these villages with natives who state that the graves have been turned in sand pits because the Germans had used sand and chlorine to further decimate the bodies and the memories of the Holocaust. …show more content…
This was done by the Reich to ensure that Soviet commissions could not have proof of their crimes. Father Desbois used the testimonies of the requisitioned and information stated in the Soviet, German and American archives to determine that the Nazis did want to remove all traces of the Holocaust, and found that it was easier for the Germans to do this is forests and village centers because you saved resources and time not having to travel to a camp and concealing the crime was much easier to do in these