Brock Library thanks Brooke Braverman and Perla Zaltzman of Brock Chabad for this exhibit and blog post. Visit the display in the Matheson Learning Commons until November 14.
Places can be deceiving. Where grass and trees now grow, once were scenes of unspeakable horror — killing fields where more than 2 million people were murdered before the creation of concentration camps. “Holocaust by Bullets” documents this lesser-known side of the Holocaust. This exhibit makes sure that the victims won’t be forgotten.
Between 1941 and 1944, thousands of killings took place across seven Soviet republics. The estimated number of Jews exterminated was at least 2.2 million. This included 1.6 million victims in Ukraine, 500,000 in Belarus and at least 120,000 in Russia. Over 80% of the victims were shot, while the rest were deported or murdered in the death camps or in gas vans. The death of Soviet Jews was not called “Holocaust by Bullets” for nothing. The statistical murder by shooting was used in Eastern Europe, in small towns or in a large Soviet occupied city. Often these shootings were done outside of villages and towns, against women, men and children.
During Holocaust Education Week, Chabad at Brock presents “Holocaust by Bullets,” an exhibit featured in the Thistle Corridor and the Learning Commons of the Brock University Library. Curated by Perla Zaltzman and Brooke Braverman, this display brings together the “Holocaust by Bullets” story in the Thistle Corridor from Yahad in Unum, while highlighting the Brock students who are descendants of Holocaust survivors, in the Learning Commons. Through these narratives, we reflect on the fallen Jewish people forgotten during the Soviet Holocaust, while commemorating the resilience needed to carry the memories of the survivors.
In the Thistle Corridor, the organization, Yahad in Unum, devotes its research to the Holocaust, fighting antisemitism, and fostering relations between Catholics and Jews. By combining both Catholic and Jewish relations, the organization uses “Yahad”, which is the Hebrew word for “Together”, while in Latin, “In Unum” means “in one”. The organization seeks to uncover the lesser-known chapter of history, “Holocaust By Bullets”, which has been silent for too long.
Additionally, the library has curated a collection of books to support Holocaust Education Week, offering historical insights, survivor testimonies and scholarly perspectives on antisemitism and resilience.
We invite you to explore and reflect on the stories, messages and meaning of the exhibits. In bearing witness to this history, we commit to fighting antisemitism, hatred, bigotry and silence, wherever they may appear.
