The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

53 Document of Tragic End church, the people, awaiting certain death, sang and prayed con- tinuously. The mood of the people, though fearful, was solemn- ly calm and composed. The singing of the children was heart- breaking. At noon on the second day, they started to take groups of people on the Latvian sledges, allegedly to a camp. However, they did not drive toward the railway station but in the opposite direction. The sledges came back quickly — empty. Soon, numerous houses started to burn. Single shots rang out. According to the accounts of the horsedrivers, as soon as peo- ple were herded into a building, it was set on fire. They shot or threw back into the fire whoever tried to run away. They bayo- netted the children. Only a very few individuals were able to save themselves from the burning buildings. They brought in more groups, filled up buildings with them, and set them on fire. The drivers were ordered to confuse their passengers by changing direction at random. The fires that night and in the days that followed turned the entire sky blood red. The officers, especially those who were not German, bex- haved less and less politely toward Fr. Leszczewicz, because they could see that he had the greatest influence on the people. They believed he was a provocateur, covertly sympathetic to the partisans, because he had been able to work here unob- structed the whole time. While the officers ate their lunch, Fr. Leszczewicz told the Sisters to serve lunch to the priests.Then he said he was going to change into dry socks because his feet were wet, though he quipped that it didn’t matter if one dies with wet or dry feet. He also asked if one should eat or stay hungry before dying. Then he wound a scarf around his neck, ate a piece of smoked meat, and went out, bare-headed. When he sat down in the sledge, one of the officers said to him: “Now you will show us the hidden warehouse.” In fact, there was no warehouse. And so he went with the first group. Then, according to one of the horsedrivers, he saw the priest standing next to the building and talking with an officer while people were going inside. When the sledges came back, a tremendous fire started where they had been. Without doubt,