us-005578-irn35056-irn35625
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/2006-12-31
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Plain gold plated finger ring with text engraved inside the band. interior, engraved : A•D exterior, engraved : AM.DBLE 57
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
history: The ring was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2008 by Father Patrick Desbois and Yahad-in Unum.
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn35056-irn35625/acquisitions/1
has or had holder: us-005578
history: Father Patrick Desbois is the president of Yahad- In Unum (Together as One), an organization he co-founded in 2004 to develop and promote Christian-Jewish understanding. He is also a Roman Catholic priest and director of the Episcopal Committee for Relations with Judaism, which is connected with the French Conference of Bishops. Father Desbois was born in Chalon-sur-Saone, France, in 1955 and grew up on a farm in the Bresse region of eastern France. As a young man, he joined the French civil service and taught mathematics in West Africa. He went to Calcutta to work with Mother Teresa for three months. After this, he decided to join the priesthood, a decision that shocked his secular family. He became a parish priest and studied Judaism and learned Hebrew. He asked to do outreach work with groups such as Roma, ex-prisoners, and Jews, and was appointed a liaison with the Jewish community in France. His family had lived on the farm throughout the German occupation of France during World War II, 6/25/1940-8/25/1944. His paternal grandfather, as a soldier in the French Army, had been deported by the Germans following the occupation. He was sent to Rava-Ruska prison camp, then on the Ukrainian side of the Polish border, now in Ukraine. His grandfather never talked about his experiences, but he did once comment to his grandson that, as bad as it was for French prisoners-of-war, it was much worse for other types of inmates. A maternal cousin who had been a member of the resistance was deported and killed in a German concentration camp. As an adult, he learned from his mother that the family had often hidden members of the French Resistance on the farm. Desbois was haunted by his grandfather's silence. He made repeated trips to Rava-Ruska where his grandfather had been imprisoned. On one visit, the mayor took him to the edge of the forest where a group of elderly villagers were gathered to tell him what they had witnessed. Desbois finally learned what his grandfather would n…
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn35056-irn35625/alternateIDs/1
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1942-01-01
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1943-12-31
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/2006-01-01
scope and content: One of 5 rings found together near a mass grave site in Busk, Poland (now Ukraine), by Father Patrick Desbois and Yahad-In Unum in 2006. They were found approximately 30 feet from the largest mass grave at the site, possibly the undressing site. The last Jewish residents of Busk, over 1700 people, were brought to this site and shot by German Einsatzgruppen [killing squads] and troops and local Polish and Ukrainian collaborators. Eyewitness accounts report that many of the victims threw their valuables into the field to keep the Germans from collecting them.
identifier: irn35625
type: RecordSet
is or was included in: us-005578-irn35056
title: Plain gold wedding band with engraved text found near a mass Jewish grave site
record resource extent: overall: Height: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm) | Diameter: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm)
has record set type: Item