Biography

Father Patrick Desbois is a distinguished author, university professor, historian, forensic detective and world-renowned human-rights activist. He has dedicated his life to fighting the bigotry that fuels the disease of genocide and bridging the divide between faiths. His ongoing work brings closure to the victims and survivors of genocide and calls for legal justice for the perpetrators.

He is the founder of Yahad-In Unum (“Together In One”), a non-profit organization dedicated to discovering genocidal practices wherever they are found around the world, providing documented proof of crimes against humanity, and a leading voice of protest on behalf of all past and present victims of mass murder.

Yahad-In Unum ‘s original charter was documenting the evidence of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, known as the “Holocaust by Bullets.” For nearly two decades Yahad-In Unum pioneered the application of modern forensic research to the study of genocide. Through this developed methodology, they have uncovered the location of more than 2,700 killing sites and documented more than 6,700 witness testimonies to the war crimes of the Einsatzgruppen (Nazi Death Squads). His first book, “Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews,” is based on this work. His second book on this topic, released in early 2018, is titled “In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures Behind the Holocaust by Bullets.”

Today, Father Desbois’ work is far from over while Yahad-In Unum has vigorously expanded its scope of anti-genocide vigilance. He has spent the last several years with his Yahad In-Unum team gathering testimony from survivors of the Yazidi massacres in Northern Iraq at the hands of ISIS. The work has resulted in hundreds of hours of eyewitness accounts of this modern day genocide and reveals the tactics and strategies ISIS utilizes to abuse and sexually enslave Yazidi women and turn the boys into brainwashed soldiers and terrorists. While the organization continues to collect evidence of the Yazidi Genocide, they have also established skill advancement centers in refugee camps to help former captives transition back into society. This research is covered in his recent book, “The Terrorist Factory: ISIS, the Yazidi Genocide, and Exporting Terror”

In January of 2016, Yahad – In Unum founded The Museum of the Holocaust in Guatemala, the first museum of the Holocaust in Central America. The museum trains hundreds of educators each year and more than 50,000 students have visited it so far. In 2017, the museum was nominated for The Leading Culture Destinations Award.

In November of 2017, he and Yahad-In Unum launched the “Holocaust by Bullets”- Enhanced Teacher Training seminar to over 50 current and future educators in Denver Colorado. The program is designed to equip educators with the tools and resources to teach the recently discovered history of WWII. In 2018, the program was customized for museum professionals during a weeklong program for over 130 museum guides and staff members of the Auschwitz Museum in Oświęcim, Poland.

Father Desbois has received numerous honors for his groundbreaking work, including the Humanitarian Award from the US Holocaust Museum and the 2017 Lantos Human Rights Prize. Very notably, Yahad-In Unum and Father Desbois have been lauded by world leaders including Pope Francis as well as French President, Emmanuel Macron, who awarded him the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest honor, for his work documenting the Holocaust.

Father Desbois is a Braman Endowed Professor at the Center for Jewish Civilization of Georgetown University and serves as director of the Episcopal Committee for Catholic-Judeo Relations, under the auspices of the French Conference of Bishops. He travels extensively for speaking engagements and has been featured on CNN, NPR and 60 Minutes. He resides in Washington, DC, and Paris, France.