...Today, as we debate whether to fight a war to prevent one man from having the power to literally wipe out millions of people, to prevent one man from having within his grasp , the ability to hold the World hostage...my mind goes back to a time in History when we waited too long to intervene...when we should have acted to prevent a tragedy that took so many...a time when Gas Chambers were stacked full with the bodies of men and women based on racial lines alone. This is my Tribute to a very courageous woman who was not afraid to stand for the convictions she held so dear: Corrie Ten Boom Born in Haarlem in Holland on 15 April 1892, the youngest child of Caspar and Cornelia ten Boom, she had two sisters, Betsie and Nollie, and a brother Willem. On 10 May 1940 German forces invaded Holland. Soon after this, the ten Boom family began their underground work, helping Jews to escape from the Germans. On 28 February 1944 the ten Booms were arrested. Corrie's father was then 84. He died ten days after his arrest. Corrie was taken to a prison at Scheveningen, near The Hague, along with Betsie and Willem. Willem was soon released, but died shortly after the war from an illness contracted in prison. In June 1944 Corrie and Betsie were moved to a labour camp at Vught in southern Holland. In the same month the Allied forces invaded Europe and the last stage of the Second World War began. In September 1944 the sisters were moved to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. Betsie died there a few days before Christmas 1944. Corrie was released on 31 December 1944. Holland was liberated by the Allies on 5 May 1945 and Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945. After the war Corrie was invited to speak in many countries. She visited over sixty countries, and came to Britain six times. In 1968 she was honoured by the State of Israel for her work in aid of the Jewish people by being invited to plant a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles, near Jerusalem, where Otto Schindler is also honoured. In 1975 The Hiding Place, a film of Corrie's life, was released. In 1977 she finally gave up travelling and settled in California. She died on 15 April 1983, her 91st birthday. After the war, Corrie worked for forgiveness and reconciliation between former enemies. At one meeting soon after the war, one of the former SS guards at the camp came up to her and asked to shake her hand. To start with, she had a very big problem with this, but then found that she was able to forgive the guard. She later wrote about how important forgiveness was. In her rehabilitation work with victims of the Holocaust and other camp survivors, she found that only those who were able to forgive, could made a good recovery and begin to live again.