The Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah

"The Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah has supported Father Desbois’ work researching memorial sites linked to the Einsatzgruppen’s extermination of the Jews right from the start. His team has accomplished an outstanding task by collecting witness accounts, finding the exact position of mass graves in Ukraine, and revealing the conditions in which the massacres took place. It should be remarked that this research for historical truth, which is an undertaking of the utmost importance for the transmission of memory, has been achieved with respect and fraternal dialogue between Jews and Christians.

Father Desbois’ French-Ukrainian team has performed with absolute professionalism and sense of historical responsibility. The archival work, of which the exhibition is but a first example, continues. It is the first stage in a process which should lead to the tombs being transformed into sanctuaries, and the possibility for Ukrainians to appropriate past events for themselves. Not withstanding the weight of the Soviet period, such a conscientious understanding is one of the conditions for the incarnation of the European project, notably in Ukraine.”

Anne-Marie Revcolevschi, Director General of the FMS

The Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah is a private Foundation recognized as being ‘of public utility’ (RUP). Its funds are constituted of money from property expropriated from French Jews during the Second World War.

The Foundation’s mission is to support projects in several areas of history and research :

  • - historical research
  • - transmission of history and the memory of the Holocaust
  • - aid for survivors
  • - the preservation and promotion of Jewish culture within its own community as well as beyond it.

The Foundation has financed over 1100 projects since its creation. It also provides ongoing financial aid to the Shoah Memorial in Paris.

The Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah

52 Boulevard Malesherbes, 75008 Paris

Tél. 01 53 42 63 11 / info@fondationshoah.org / www.fondationshoah.org