Today we think about the Holocaust. Millions of Jews and others were put to death by the Nazi regime in Germany and Poland. Many died in gas chambers.

Today we think about the Holocaust.

Millions of Jews and others were put to death by the Nazi regime in

Germany and Poland. Many died in gas chambers in

concentration camps like Auschwitz.

Pope Benedict has reminded us that:

•We must not forget the terrible event of the Holocaust•We must try to work for peace and harmony between all people.

Today we remember

Over 60 years later we remember those people who died and those who helped

them.

Helen Bamber

At the end of the war Helen Bamber was a young girl.

She heard of the sufferings of the inmates as they were being liberated from Belsen concentration camp and she

went to help.

Irene SendlerowaIrene, a young Polish woman, rescued Jewish children from the ghetto in Warsaw and took them to Catholic orphanages and convents to be cared for.

Frank Foley

• Frank Foley worked in Berlin and saved 10,000 German Jews by helping them to obtain passports and other documents going against the laws of the Nazis.

Helen, Irena and Frank

made very courageous decisions to help during or

after the Holocaust. They even risked their

own lives to save others.

• It is not easy to make courageous decisions.

• It is often easier to do nothing.

• But we can make courageous decisions at home, at school and in the parish.

Making courageous decisions

How can we be courageous

•Stand alongside someone who is being bullied.

•Tell an adult if someone is treated badly because they

are different.•Try to make peace if there is

trouble between people.

Other courageous men and women:• Archbishop Oscar Romero• Raoul Wallenberg• Anne Frank• Martin Luther King• Mahatma Gandhi

And let us pray that we may be as courageous as they have been.

Let us pray the prayer of St Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy. Amen

Remember Today!

I CAN make a difference