Haunted by the fact that his grandfather was a French prisoner held at the Rawa-Ruska forced labor camp was the impetus for Father Desbois to learn more and chronicle the stories of those who witnessed the barbaric shootings that occurred day and night throughout small Ukrainian towns during WWII.

This is not for the feint of heart. At times, I simply had to put this book down to take a break from the violence and to wrestle with the fact that so many live with the fact that they witnesses, and at the risk of being slaughtered, they too had to participate unwillingly as mass large holes were dug, Nazi trucks drove through the forests, one by one by one by one shot Jews, watched them fall in the pit, and then lined up more and more and more.

Uncovering the truth behind the 1.5 deaths, Father Desbois researched and chronicled the stories of those still living who either hid and saw what happened, or were forced to participate. Many of those interviewed had never spoken of what they witnessed as children. He and his kind team felt compelled to bring to light the stories of the mass graves throughout the Ukraine. ( )

Father Desbois' presentation is moving and informative. He justly deserves the awards he has received.

Although the Holocaust has been written about for many years, I am still shocked when I read about new atrocities that have been uncovered. How do seemingly ordinary people get caught up in these kinds of actions? I continue to read Holocaust stories to try to find the answer. The only answer that is forthcoming is in the documentary Shoah, in which a Holocaust scholar said : For thousands of years, the Jews were told "you can not live here." Nazi Germany took it one step farther and said "you can not live." ( )

Acquired 2022