The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

CHAPTER NINETEEN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF A GIRLWHO LOST HER MOTHER AND BROTHER ANNA ZURAVLEVA, MOSCOW I knew Fr. Anthony Leszczewicz very well. After the priests came to us, we were decorating the altar. At that time, the church was not in the ruined condition it is now. There were five of us girls who worked with Fr. Leszczewicz. He told us what dresses to sew. My mother was sewing and I was embroi- dering. During solemn holidays, we spent time adoring the Blessed Sacrament, and during processions we carried the little pillow with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I was present in the church in Rosica on February 16, 1943. Dear God! How many people perished! They burned my moth- er and brother on February 16. We were herded into the church. There we were told that Fr. Leszczewicz had been led out of the church and shot and killed near the Orthodox church. After the priest was shot, I ceased crying. I was trying to understand what was going on in the world. I thought that the Day of Judgment had begun. Everybody, without exception, was being killed, believers and non-believers, and even priests. The other priest — I don’t remember his name —was killed together with the people. A German said to him: “Bless this group of people and you may stay.” The priest answered: “I am where my people are!” He stood at the head of the column, and that is where he died. I was standing next to the priest when the German was talking with him. The image of what was going on in that church has stayed with me my entire life. I was kept in concentration camps in Satsapils, Majdanek, Ravensbruck, and Neubrandenburg.