Course overview

While many students are familiar with the Nazi extermination of Jews in Western Europe during World War II, few know that a parallel effort was waged in the East. There, Nazis killed Jews methodically, but, mostly, not in mass camps built for extermination. In the course, Holocaust Forensics, you will learn about the forensics of the Holocaust by bullets and other mass killings with Fr. Patrick Desbois, a forensic anthropologist and author of The Holocaust by Bullets, In Broad Daylight and The Terrorist Factory.

This course and the associated lab will train you in forensic methods of investigations of the Holocaust by bullets and other genocides and prepare you to conduct similar investigations on the ground. The trip component offers the opportunity to engage with Holocaust witnesses, local historians as well as current policymakers and stakeholders involved in Holocaust education in Romania.

Itinerary highlights

You will have the chance to visit significant sites, including the Iasi Holocaust Museum; Pogrom of Iasi; Podul Iloaiei; Victoria; Bucharest.

Professor information

Andrej Umansky, the Center for Jewish Civilization’s postdoctoral fellow, also serves on the Board of Directors of Yahad in Unum, where he works as a member of the leadership team to advance the mission through forensic investigation, academia and community engagement. Dr. Umansky further advises, defends and represents, as a Specialist lawyer for criminal law and Senior Associate of the law firm, Gazeas Nepomuck, individuals and companies in criminal law and administrative offences relating to economic and international areas.

Father Patrick Desbois, president of Yahad-In Unum, has devoted his life to confronting antisemitism and to furthering Catholic-Jewish understanding. His research has greatly expanded the scope of understanding concerning the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. His book, The Holocaust by Bullets, documents those findings. Father Desbois is the director of the Episcopal Committee for Relations with Judaism, serves as a consultant to the Vatican and was a personal aide to the late Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. He was awarded the Medal of Valor by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Humanitarian Award of the U.S. Holocaust Museum and honorary doctorates from Hebrew University and Bar Ilan University in Israel, amongst other honors.