More than 2,000,000 Jews were killed by shooting during the Holocaust in several thousand mass killing sites throughout Europe and yet these killing sites remain relatively unknown. A new publication issued by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) aims to raise awareness of this centrally important aspect of the Holocaust by bringing together organizations and individuals dealing with the subject.

Approximately one-third of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust
were murdered in what Father Patrick Desbois of the Yahad-inUnum Association has called the ‘Holocaust by
bullets’
– mass shootings that largely took place across Eastern Europe in
thousands of forests, villages, streets, and homes. In many instances, German perpetrators and their local collaborators eliminated entire communities in a matter of days or even hours.
And yet these Killing Sites remain relatively unknown, both in regional
histories and in the larger remembrance of the Holocaust.

This new publication reflects both research and fieldwork on killing sites. It was coordinated by IHRA’s Multi-Year Work Plan Steering Committee on Killing Sites and follows a successful academic conference on killing sites held in Krakow, Poland on 22-23 January 2014.

Its subject is also of great importance to the European Holocaust Reseach Infrastructure (EHRI) project, that in its new phase will focus more on Eastern Europe. Several institutes and researchers that have contributed to the IHRA publication have also been involved in EHRI’s work.

The full version of the publication can be downloaded free of charge on
the IHRA website.