In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures Behind the Holocaust by Bullets

Author: Father Patrick Desbois

In Broad Daylight documents the mass killings of Jews in seven countries formerly part of the Soviet Union that were invaded by Nazi Germany. Drawing on interviews with neighbors of the Jews, wartime records, and the application of modern forensic practices to long-hidden grave sites, the book shows how these murders, this “Holocaust by bullets,” followed a template or script, which included a timetable that was duplicated from place to place.

Far from being kept secret, the killings were done in broad daylight, before witnesses. Often, they were treated as public spectacles. The Nazis deliberately involved the local inhabitants in the mechanics of death—whether it was cooking for the killers, digging or covering the graves, witnessing their Jewish neighbors being marched off, or taking part in the slaughter. They availed themselves of local people and the structures of Soviet life in order to make this part of the Holocaust possible.

The book includes a historical introduction by Andrej Umansky, research fellow at the Institute for Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, University of Cologne, Germany, and historical and legal advisor to Yahad-In Unum.

Paperback

336 Pages