The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

55 Document of Tragic End that Fr. Leszczewicz was no longer alive, but that Fr. Kaszyra would be saved and sent somewhere. As the Sisters prepared a small suitcase for Fr. Kaszyra, he told them slowly: “Why do I need this if in a few moments I won’t need anything at all? Watch where they take us, toward the railway station or else- where, and you will know what will happen to me.” Finally, he took some food and his breviary. From among the people who kept coming, the young and strong continued to be selected and sent to the station. But Fr. Kaszyra was driven, together with the elderly and the children, in the opposite direction toward buildings that were filled with people and then set on fire. Finally, the Sisters too were ordered to leave, but the officers were polite to them and helped them to get on the sledges. They were given three sledges just for themselves, not together with other people. No officer or soldier accompanied them. That evening they arrived in some small town. However, they didn’t know which one. They spent the night there in the German command post. They were given supper and some straw to make beds for themselves. When they left Rosica, the Sisters were first told to take food for three hours, then for five hours, then for 24 hours, and final- ly for three days. Ultimately, they were told not to take any- thing because they would probably have to walk part of the way. They just didn’t know what to do. One of the Sisters took a jar of rendered pork fat, another some dried sausage. The next day, in the morning, the Sisters were given breakfast. Of course, they hadn’t slept all night. Then a car arrived and took the Sisters further on to some river. On the other side of the river, disbelieving their own eyes, the Sisters saw the church in Druja, so they were at the bank of the Dvina on the Latvian side of the border. There horse cabs, summoned by telephone, were already waiting, and they took the Sisters across the ice to Druja, all the way to the convent. The Sisters in the Druja convent could see the fires in the neighborhood of Rosica, so they were all gath- ered in the chapel in ardent prayer for their own Sisters and for