KILLING SITES - First Stage of Holocaust in Serbia and Croatia, supported by IHRA and Ministry of Culture, Serbia.
With the following project partners: Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia - FJCS, and University of Rijeka Faculty of Philosophy Department of Cultural Studies.
We are have built a permanent research and remembrance educational resource on the first stage of the Holocaust in Serbia and Croatia. The principal aim of the project is to leverage the new research and the critical thinking on the Holocaust, the Genocide against the Roma, and the fascism into factually accurate education platform. A number of locations and events are researched anew, and brought to the attention of local communities and decision-makers, improving their cooperation into forming the educational and commemorative solutions for the sites. Local participants and academics are taking part in the project events. The permanent resource platform is a website in Serbo- Croatian and English, providing open access to historical material, such as photographs, documents, and testimonies available for each location, using clear and accessible mapping and timeline based presentation, as well as ready to use educational materials.
In the field of digital mapping of the Holocaust, and in the recent times of the Poraimos as well, a special place is reserved for sites where mass-crimes were committed, especially during the first stage of Holocaust. Father Patrick Desbois, the author of “The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews“, has defined that phase as “Holocaust by bullets”. The reason being the fact that in 1941, before the “final solution” and the establishment of the death camps, Jews and Roma were killed mainly by firing squads. The mass shootings took place mainly in the Soviet Union, where it was established that German forces and local quislings have killed over a million Jews and a number of Roma.
Several years ago, a number of organizations have started the process of digital mapping of all locations where mass shootings took place. Most of the information on the sites, testimonies and images can be found on the pages of their websites:
http://yahadmap.org/#map/
The map on the killing sites in Belorussia, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, and Romania. The map was produced by the Yahad in Unum organization, founded by Patrick Desbois.
http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/index.html
Map on the killing sites in the Soviet Union, produced by the world’s largest organization for Holocaust studies, remembrance, and education – Yad Vashem.
http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/
the map on Holocaust in Lithuania jointly produced by Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono žydų muziejus (The Vilna Gaon State Museum) and the Austrian organizationGedenkdienst.
http://www.belarusmemorials.com/
The map on the places of suffering in Belorussia, produced by Belarus Holocaust Memorials Project.
Places of suffering were given a special attention by the interstate organization IHRA, which has recently published “Killing Sites. Research and Remembrance” . Thanks to the support of this organization, and in cooperation with theFederation of Jewish Communities of Serbia, and the Department of Cultural Studies of Rijeka University Faculty of Philosophy, CHRE will, during 2015 and 2016 conduct the mapping of the places of suffering in Serbia and Croatia.