Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on the 27th of January each year. On this day we should learn the lessons of the past and recognize that a genocide does not just take place on its own, but is a steady and degenerative process which begins whendiscrimination, racism and hatred are not checked and prevented.
We should always maintain the highest level of vigilance, in order to intervene immediatelyin defence of human dignity and peace.
For this reason in this video Fr. Mario, executive editor of the "Messenger of Saint Anthony" magazine, tells the story of Fr. Placido Cortese, a franciscan friar of the Saint Anthony Basilica, who, during the Second World War, secretly organized rescue missions for Jews, British prisoners of war and many others, fleeing Nazi persecution. But eventually the Gestapo got wind of the organization, and decided to kidnap him and to kill him.
On this day we want to keep alive the memory of Fr. Placido, and of all the people who lost their lives in the Holocaust.