June 2018 SPECIAL EDITION November 2015 Issue | Page 8

November 2015

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not Francine Christophe. I believe God spared
her so that she could tell her story.
When Francine and her mother were
ripped from their home, Francine’s mom brought
with her two small pieces of chocolate. She told
Francine she would give her the chocolate when
Francine most needed it, when she was literally
in danger of death. But, things didn’t turn out
that way.
A fellow inmate at Bergen Belsen, Hele-

little baby girl didn’t just cry, she screamed.
Francine grew-up in France, got married and had
a daughter of her own. Her daughter became a mental
health professional and realized that the people liberated
from the Nazi concentration camps, including her mother, had never received counseling. So, she put together a
symposium of mental health experts to give camp survivors, including her mom, long overdue guidance.
Here’s where the story takes a strange twist. At
one of the sessions, a female psychiatrist came to the

ne, was in labor. Like all inmates in that hell
hole, Helene was near death from starvation.
There was little hope she could successfully deliver her child. There was, though, as always,
hope. And Francine’s mom grabbed it. She
asked her daughter whether she could give those
squirreled away pieces of chocolate, Francine’s
chocolate, to Helene. Francine responded, “Oui,
Mama.” The gift was given. It was eaten. And,
then, God intervened. Helene lived. So did her

microphone. She said, “I have something for Francine
Christophe. Two pieces of chocolate.” Then, the woman added, “I am the baby!”
Francine’s profound act of simple sacrifice, giving away her treasured chocolate, had saved a life and
had given that child of God an opportunity to become a
psychiatrist who brought healing to others.
Francine Christophe is a Jew. Yet, she did what
Jesus Christ asks us all to do. Francine performed a
simple act of sacrificial love. And, that made all the dif-

child. Strangely, the new born infant, a girl, did
not cry.
Six weeks later, the British liberated Bergen Belsen. Francine was among those freed.
One of her last memories of Bergen Belsen was
hearing Helene’s baby cry for the first time. The

ference. My sisters and brothers, I implore us, Christian
Catholics, to do the same.

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