INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Patrick Desbois

President, Yahad-In Unum

A Roman Catholic priest, Father Desbois has dedicated his life to researching the Holocaust, fighting antisemitism and furthering relations between Catholics and Jews. In 2004 he helped found "Yahad-In Unum," a project whose mission is to investigate the mass executions of Jews and Roma in the Ukraine and Belarus between 1941 and 1944. He has located the graves of more than 1 million Jews throughout Eastern Europe and interviewed scores of witnesses in an effort to preserve the memory of the many forgotten Jews of Eastern Europe. Desbois' work in promoting Jewish-Christian dialogue and Holocaust commemoration earned him France's highest honor, the Légion d'honneur. (Photo: Screenshot.)