HOLOCAUST hero Sofka Skipwith spent the latter days of her life living near Blisland on Bodmin Moor. Her son, Peter Zinovieff, recently met with Communities Minister, Shahid Malik MP to discuss the new award announced in April to honour British people who risked their lives during the Holocaust to help

others.

Mr Zinovieff was joined by relatives of other such brave men and women, as well as Holocaust survivor Roman Halter and Lord Janner, Chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

The meeting was an opportunity for the minister to learn more about their selfless acts and discuss the contemporary lessons they hold for today.

Discussions focusing on this special award follow an initiative by the Holocaust Educational Trust to secure recognition for British people who risked their own lives and often the lives of their families to aid or rescue thousands of Jewish people and others from almost certain death.

Relatives of British heroes who attended the meeting also included Duncan Macpherson (Albert Bedane's grandson), Simon Ravenhall (June Ravenhall's grandson) and Linda Clarke (Charles Coward's daughter).

At the meeting, Peter Zinovieff said: "I remember my mother telling me that for her, this wasn't about being brave but in her mind, there was no other option but to help."

Imprisoned by Germans in an Internment camp in Vittel, France, Sofka Skipwith (1907-1994) tried to help groups of Polish Jews in the camp by giving them smuggled Red Cross parcels.

Aware of the fate they faced, she wrote down all the names of the Jewish prisoners on cigarette paper, rolled them into capsules and sent them to British authorities.

She also saved a newborn Jewish baby, who had been overlooked by the camp authorities. In the majority of cases Jewish babies were

murdered on arrival.

After the war, Sofka spent the latter days of her life living in a stone cottage in the hamlet of Bradford, near Blisland on Bodmin Moor.

She was recognised as 'Righteous Among the Nations' by Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Memorial authority in 1998.

Communities Minister Shahid Malik MP said: "Learning about the Holocaust and the events of the past and then seeing the rise of the far-right today reminds us we need to be extremely alert but not alarmed. We should all be reminded of what Edmund Burke said, that 'all it takes for evil to

triumph is for good men to do nothing.'

"It's a privilege and an honour for the department to be involved in this incredibly powerful project — and it's humbling to read the accounts of what these heroes did. Britain needs to know about these heroes as they serve as such great example for young people today. I hope that it will help raise awareness right across the country."

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, added: "We were delighted to accompany the relatives of these special men and women to meet with the minister. The brave acts undertaken by Britain's heroes of the Holocaust deserve wide recognition for their own sake — but also because it will send a positive signal to today's and future generations about the need to challenge racism and hatred wherever they encounter it."