Free The Remnant - Stories of the Jewish Resistance in WWII by Othniel J. Seiden Page A

minutes to get through the west edge of the city, which led to the cover of woods-the same woods that had hidden Solomon Shalensky on the day he'd escaped the death pits of Babi Yar.

12
Father Peter...
    The Roman Catholic Church came to the Ukraine and Russia by way of Poland. Its greatest influence was, therefore, in the Western Soviet Union. Though not a large population, most of the Roman Catholics in the Soviet Union now fell under German occupation.
    Father Peter Rochovit's parish was in the countryside surrounding Kiev. It was a poor parish, his congregation mostly peasants. The economy was hard on them, as it was on every non-Bolshevik Soviet, but in the Ukraine the Roman Catholic Church was a minority church. The Bolsheviks discouraged religion and the Vatican considered communism its most dangerous enemy.
    Father Peter was the second of six sons born to a peasant who came to the Ukraine in 1897. He was born in 1910 in the parish he now served. The Church was central to Peter's family's existence. Peter had been attracted to the Church at an early age, finding it an escape from the harsh life of the Ukraine. He became a favorite of the elderly priest of the parish, who encouraged Peter to pursue a life of service to God.
    Because the parish was poor, the church school provided only a basic education. It was adequate for most, since most peasants considered formal education a luxury and frankly, a waste of time. Education didn't plow, plant or harvest. If a child learned to read, it was a great accomplishment. Literacy did little to help provide for the family. If one member of a family could read, then that family was no longer illiterate and it did not seem important for more than one member to learn the skill. In the Rochovit family, Peter had the greatest aptitude, so he'd been chosen to get the education.
    After Peter finished his education at the church school, the old Priest arranged a scholarship for him at divinity school in Poland, with the understanding that he'd return to his district and follow in the footsteps of his old mentor.
    Peter went to Poland at age seventeen. At age twenty two, in 1932, he returned as assistant priest to his parish. When the old priest died in 1935, Peter took over the parish and served the people he'd known and loved since childhood.
    Father Peter believed in what he preached and lived by his teachings. In spite of his youth, he had good judgment, wisdom and compassion. An avid historian, he was an insatiable reader. His knowledge of other religions was vast. His interest in political philosophies was deep and he felt, as did the Vatican, that communism was a great threat to the Roman Catholic Church and to all other religions.
    Even though Father Peter kept up an active correspondence with several priests in Poland, with whom he'd gone to school, he had no idea what German occupation would mean to the people of the Ukraine. His colleagues in Poland did not write of political matters. That was too risky since government perusal of the mail was common. He was a victim of the same news censorship that kept all Soviets uninformed. When the Germans came to occupy Kiev, which included his parish, he too saw them as liberators, believing they would lift the yoke of religious persecution off all the faithful, but especially from the Roman Catholic Church, since Hitler and most of his top officials were Roman Catholic.
    He believed that the industrious, cosmopolitan Germans would bring his people new opportunities to throw off the heavy burdens of poverty and ignorance. But after the Germans entered his parish on September 19, 1941, he heard only the distant sound of machine gun fire, carried on the wind from Babi Yar.

13
Decision...
    "What are your plans?" Ivan asked Sol on the morning of Tuesday, October 7th. Solomon's restlessness was becoming quite apparent. Rest and Sosha's cooking had restored his physical health and strength. Each day his grief and mourning gave way to deeper