Miracles often invade our lives. Sometimes we just hear about them from our friends, other times we even witness them ourselves, but there is a third category of miracles - those that save our lives.
The incident that occurred in the village of Rozhkovka (Kamenetsky district, Brest region) is often mentioned in the context of completely extraordinary stories, because here, a sign that appeared in the sky (Mother of God with a baby in her arms) saved the lives of 276 people living in the village. But, as is usually the case, over the years the real event has turned into a legend, which has overgrown with its own truths and falsities.
The many-sided truth
If we consider the Rozhkov miracle not within the framework of the territorial laws inherent in some anomalous phenomenon, then it may seem just another striking front-line story. If, however, you only superficially look at the Kamenetsky region from the standpoint of sacred geography, you will notice that the phenomena of the Mother of God took place here and earlier, including in recent years.
We have already written about one of them, which took place in the village of Bushmichi, on our website, another one was reported by Lyudmila Chernyavskaya, a resident of the Kovalevo microdistrict of Brest. Tellingly, it happened next to the so-called tracker stone:
“We kissed the stone, and I was about to leave. Suddenly I see - between the clouds the Mother of God … As on the icon of the Protection of the Mother of God, with her hands raised up, in which she held the cover. I shouted: "Look, look!" My friend Nadezhda and daughter Olga ran up to me and also began to look. The Mother of God appeared to us small and just above this stone - I don't think that she could be seen from the village, although she was in heaven."
Something similar was reported in a letter to Ufokom by Georgy Musevich, a regional specialist in Kamenets.
Promotional video:
He writes: “Our family then lived in Dmitrovichi near the Kamenets-Belovka road. I remember well how at the end of August 1941 I was sitting in the church house where the former chairman Chikvin now lives. Suddenly, my grandmother, mother of the rector of the Holy Transfiguration Church, Father Archpriest, Chevalier of the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree, Peter Elinetsky Maria Polikarpovna (from the Levitskaya house) called me out into the street. It was already dark. I ran out of the house and saw many people who were standing and looking in the direction of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
The sky was starry, and at first on the obria (on the horizon) flashes of a large fire were seen, then three large fire crosses appeared in the sky. The people had an uneasy feeling. They began to pray quietly and get baptized. Some of them said that this sign of God is a harbinger of great and heavy suffering of the people. The next day we learned that the Germans burned down the village of Belaya and the temple of the Kazan Mother of God icon in it, and the people, led by the rector of the church, Fr. Anthony Belevtsov was taken to Zhabinka district."
It was this tragic event that prompted the residents of the village of Rozhkovka to turn to the local German command with a request to build a temple directly in their village. Another strategic task was for the village soltys (as the Germans now called the headman in the Polish manner) Dorofei Protasevich and his deputy Anton Protasevich: since some of the locals helped the partisans, the newly organized event could slightly divert the attention of the punishers.
The German authorities agreed, after which the villagers for two cows and two centners of wool bought a forestry, a forest in Topili, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and began construction. All this happened before the main miraculous events, at the beginning of 1942, and not after, as the authors of some publications claim. This is confirmed by the recollections of eyewitnesses, in particular Ivan Skalkovich and others.
Now it is already quite difficult to establish who was the first to tell about the miracle in Rozhkovka. As Georgy Musevich writes, back in the early 90s about Rozhkovka and a possible tragedy in it there were publications in the local Kamenets newspaper Leninets (now Naviny Kamyanechchyny) M. Mamus, a teacher of the Kamenyuk school; in the newspaper "Zvezda" A. Kovalchuk, an employee of the Brest regional television; "Spring of the Belarusian Exarchate" by B. Ganago and others.
In his article "This is our Savior" Boris Ganago distorted the name of the village: instead of Rozhkovka he wrote Rozhnovka and incorrectly indicated the names of almost all of its inhabitants. The baton was picked up by journalists from regional and regional publications, as well as local historians and writers. The story of the miraculous salvation of Rozhkovka (by M. Mamus) was described in the book "Memory" of the Kamenets region. This publication contains the testimonies of Ivan Kalistratovich Skalkovich and Maria Dmitrievna Protasevich, who were directly involved in those events.
Here is what Ivan Skalkovich said:
“Partisans often came to Rozhkovka in groups. They were fed, given clothes, shoes. Naturally, the informants reported this to their masters, who even sent a spy under the guise of a construction technician. This is how the Nazis got the impression of the benevolence of the Rozhkovites towards the people's avengers. […]. But none of us knew that Rozhkovka had already been sentenced to destruction along with its inhabitants. On the morning of September 28, 1942, a punitive battalion arrived in the village from Bialowieza in 20 cars and four tankettes.
With them came the gendarmes from Dmitrovich and men appointed by them from other villages with white armbands on their sleeves. All residents were driven out of their homes by the Nazis. Twenty-one fellow villagers, including myself, were ordered to take shovels and go out into the street, and then they were led outside the village. Not far from it, they ordered to dig a huge hole 4 meters wide, 24 meters long and 2.5 meters deep. Together with us all the Protasevichs dug a hole: Konstantin, Ilya, Miron, Dmitry, Vladimir Drachuk, Pavel Knysh, Ivan Skalkovich."
The execution pit in Rozhkovka was ordered not to be buried for at least a year so that the Rozhkovites would remember the imminent execution in case of cooperation with the partisans.
Maria Protasevich also clarified the circumstances of that day:
“There were many of us - in the village there were a hundred households, in each house there were from two to five or more people. We began to whisper prayers, to be baptized, imagining ourselves already dead. There was no hope that someone would be saved from death. About four hours later, a small plane landed on a field nearby. In the afternoon, an officer who flew in from Bialowieza read out an order in Polish, from which it followed that we would all be shot for communicating with the bandits (as the punishers called the partisans), for helping them. Soon after, the plane took off and took off.
We were desperate. Someone continued to pray, asking God for salvation. The punishers glanced at their watches from time to time. Some villagers began to ask them when they would be shot. In response, the punishers answered: in two hours, in an hour, in half an hour, in ten minutes … The punishers have already prepared for the massacre of us. They were only waiting for the arrival of the plane.
Finally, from the direction of Pushchi, his hum was heard. The plane landed at the same place. The major got out of it and began to wave a sheet of paper. The junior officers went to meet him, and with them he went in the direction of the dug hole, then to the crowd of local residents. The guards ordered everyone to get up, and those who could not get up and walk on their own were ordered to help. […]
The same officer, in the presence of a major who had flown in from Bialowieza, conveyed the meaning of the order: “This time we will not shoot you, but you see that a hole has been dug, and if you do not stop keeping in touch with the partisans, you will all lie in it. We will return the children. Keep building the church. " That was the order of the major, who had just arrived by plane. " […]
The men built the church before winter. The headman reported this to the German major in Bialowieza. At its opening, he specially arrived in a car, attended the service and promised to send an icon of "Mother of God with a child", which he soon did. Now this icon on a wooden board with the inscription "September 28, 1942" is in the restored church."
Melania Saevich supplements the story with the fact that after they learned that they had been pardoned, people rushed to kiss the feet of the officer, to which he replied: “Don't. I know you are building a church. Finish it, invite me to the consecration. I leave my address to soltys."
Consecration of the church in Rozhkovka.
The temple was consecrated as St. Kazan. In addition to the mysterious redeemer, the solemn event was attended by Father Thomas (Kluka) from Dmitrovich, Father Klavdiy (Pushkarsky) from Belovezhia and the first rector of the Rozhkovsk Church, Father Nikolai (Kontsevich), the son of Father Daniel from Trostyanitsa. Since then, in the most honorable place, next to the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, there is an icon, which the locals now call the Mother of God of Rozhkovskaya.
In 1943, Aleksey Fisyuk installed a cross on the site of the pit. At present, a plate is attached to the cross with the inscription: "This cross was erected in memory of the deliverance from death of all residents of the village of Rozhkovka on September 28, 1942". And this date itself - September 28 - is considered a festive date in the village and they arrange services and a procession on this day.
Cross at the site of the tragedy. This unique monument is located on the outskirts of the village. On one of the three crosses there is a plate with the inscription: "This cross was erected in memory of the deliverance from death of all residents of the village of Rozhkovka on September 28, 1942".
Two names of the savior
Of course, it is not easy for a villager to determine the ranks of high-ranking military personnel, so it is difficult to believe that it was an officer or a major who was immediately recognized in those who arrived. Subsequently, some said that they were saved by a good German, others - by a Soviet intelligence officer. A resident of the village of Kamenets, Nikita Yaroshenko, shortly before his death (in February 1994), claimed that the man (who pardoned them - IB) was the son of a Petliura officer who emigrated to Germany during the revolutionary years.
His son became an officer in the German service. His name was Nikolai, his surname is unknown. Irina Pavlyuchuk, the leading bibliographer of the local history department of the Brest Regional Library, which has been collecting materials about Rozhkovka for a long time with reference to her aunt Nina Zbudskaya, claims that it was a major, his name was Nikolai Neiman and he is allegedly a descendant of Russian emigrants. In the mid-1990s, he seemed to even come to Rozhkovka. Then the connection was cut off.
A more in-depth and detailed study of the issue was carried out by Vyacheslav Semakov and the German publisher Valery Ripperger, who worked on this topic in the archives of Germany. The article, first published in the Belarusian newspaper Zarya in 2009, gives a different name, as well as a different military rank of the pilot. According to the authors' research, it was indeed a major, but his name was Emil Albert Heinrich Paul Herbst. It was also possible to trace its appearance in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. One of the organizers of the Nazi terror, Hermann Goering, allocated a battalion of the Luftwaffe (aviation) under the command of Herbst to protect the Pushcha - the hunting ground of the Reich - to bring the "long-awaited order" here.
In addition to a reinforced guard battalion, Herbst had a unit at his disposal to fight partisans and poachers. According to German information, at that time about 4-5 thousand partisans were operating in the Pushcha and its environs. Major Herbst created strongpoints and mobile infantry detachments in forestries and villages to search for the partisans and fight them. Herbst was quite gentle with the local population and during his service (September 1942 - March 1943), his associates sometimes even released Jews and Communists, which was later even blamed by the German command.
Handing over to Herbst a petition from the population of Rozhkovka.
As for Rozhkovka, according to the German security service, it was a "clear gangster nest" and was subject to destruction. Herbst refused to lead the punitive expedition. Then he was instructed to take the children to neighboring villages. He found that only four people provided assistance to the partisans, and canceled the punitive action, thereby saving 276 people who were already standing on the edge of the dug grave. Later, Major Herbst was able to prevent some other punitive operations in the Bialystok district.
Or maybe the names of two different heroes of this story - an officer and a major - who arrived by plane have become known?
The Omen
The book "Memory" says nothing about the sign that appeared in the sky over Rozhkovka. One can guess about these events only indirectly, from the words of Maria Protasevich: “… it seems to us that it was she who influenced that major, and he took pity on Rozhkovka. Other than a miracle, we call this case. " It is not entirely correct to attribute the lack of other information on this sign to the times of militant atheism, the year of publication of the above-mentioned book is 1997. If someone mentioned the unusual events in the sky accompanying the unsuccessful execution, the editors of the book would hardly consider them too fantastic.
In the volumes of this book on other Belarusian regions one can find, for example, stories about the acquisition of miraculous images on tree trunks, etc. The most complete and detailed investigation of the appearance of the Mother of God in the sky, supported by the words of the residents of Rozhkovka interviewed by him, was published by Mikhail Shelekhov in the magazine “Belaruskaya Dumka . Let us dwell in more detail on the memoirs presented there, as well as several additional evidence we have gleaned from Belarusian periodicals.
Anna Zinovievna Zaichik on that fateful day got into the stable, where they drove the youth:
“… And our people were driven to the pit. My brother and his comrades Lyonka and Sanka dug that hole, there is a krezhyk there today. But what a great power of the Lord! They led, and everyone went to the pit with the icon and prayed. How anyone could. Finish Our Father and begin again. And already the Germans were standing with machine guns. And those that ran, were turned back, beaten so that the blood whistled. We reached the hole and fell on our knees and let's pray. And the Germans are amazed. Now you know what? Mother of God has appeared. One woman saw - looked out when the peasants fled into cramps so as not to be beaten. She went out to look like her man and wondered. And there the Mlyny stood. And a woman in blue clothes appeared over the Mlyn. And the German on the plane saw her - and photographed her. And flew to Berlin, to Hitler. And Hitler said: Free Rozhkovka!"
Nina Grigorievna Fisyuk - at the time of this writing, the only one in the village who was at the pit:
“A year later, on the same day after the Exaltation of the Cross, a major arrived, brought an icon of the Virgin and Child, carved on a tree. And the Germans were with him, they stood in the ranks, and the people carried the icon. And he says: "The sick soldier was lying, we asked, and he carved in honor of the fact that the major flew and saw her in the sky." And the major said one thing: “It seemed to me the Mother of God the Savior. She saved. " And postponed the pit for a year. Indeed, the partisans did not touch us. We did not go to the village - not even once. They say that Solodyuk saw the Mother of God. There was a man, Ivan Skalkovich, he was talking all the time, too, he hasn't been there for three years. Ivan Drachuk said that he saw."
Maria Demidovna Dashkevich, who was 14 years old at the time of the tragedy, recalls:
“The plane came and the major said:“We decided, decided and decided. One or two shouldn't kill all the people. Therefore, I will fly there. If I do not allow it, you will remain alive. " Gathered and flew. And he didn't let me be five minutes late! He sat down and said: “We decided. Pray to God - the Mother of God has kept you alive. " Then he was almost knocked down … ".
Nina Aleksandrovna Protasevich:
“The officer said that on that day he flew on the route“Belovezh – Berlin”through Rozhkovka. In the air I saw a woman with a baby in her arms, the Mother of God. At first he decided that it was a mirage, that he was going crazy, wanted to fly by, but the woman spoke to him, ordered to save the innocent people who were dying in the village of Rozhkovka. The officer, in amazement, decided to make sure that everything was as she said, and turned to the village. And when he saw that we were standing near the pit, he realized that the woman did not seem to him, that the Mother of God herself had transferred our destinies into his hands."
The daughter-in-law of Maria Dmitrievna Protasevich Alexandra Feodorovna also mentioned that when they stood on the edge of the pit and prayed, “all of a sudden everyone who looked at the sky saw the image of the Mother of God with a baby in her arms, as she is depicted on icons”. Maria Dmitrievna told the children about this miracle many times.
Breakfast with the priests after the consecration of the church in Rozhkovka. Far right: Major Herbst.
When on January 22, 1943, the priests and elders invited Major Herbst to the opening of the church in Rozhkovka, he was accompanied by several unarmed officers. After the procession, everyone went to the excavated mass grave to remind them that in case of disobedience, the pit would still be needed [6]. According to the recollections of Ivan Drachuk, who was then 25 years old, the officer said: "When my plane flew over the place where the execution was to take place, the Mother of God appeared in the sky and showed me her hand down …".
After the war
In order to avoid the thoughts that someone might have about the canonization of Herbst, it is worth mentioning that he was not at all sinless. During the Ludwigsburg trial in 1967, the Prosecutor of Hamburg was accused of multiple murders, Major Emil Herbst. He was accused of the death penalty of 100-150 Belarusians on December 24, 1942 on the outskirts of Bialowieza. They were shot by a guard battalion commanded by Herbst. He personally "convinced" on the spot that the execution was carried out.
However, during interrogation, Herbst claimed that he did not know about such a large number of people who were shot. The main legal proceedings against Emil Herbst were not opened, and the inquiry was dropped due to the lack of evidence of the crime. Emil Albert Heinrich Paul Herbst, born May 5, 1894 in Cuxhaven, died on December 21, 1974.
The icon presented to the residents of Rozhkovka and the canonical image of the Rozhkovskaya Savior.
In 2008, the icon painters of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra created a canonical image on the basis of the old icon, which they called the Rozhkovskaya Savior. The main work was carried out by the artist-restorer, candidate of art history Svetlana Bolshakova. The board for the icon was prepared by her husband Yevgeny Bolshakov, a well-known restorer and iconographer. On the reverse side of the newly painted icon, you can read the inscription "This image was made by the diligence of the icon painters of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra with donations from the parishioners of the church in the name of St. Tryphon of Pechenga in the city of Kirkenes, as well as Orthodox Christians of St. Petersburg in January-June 2008". Not far from the execution pit, a new beech cross was also installed, which was also brought from St. Petersburg.
The newly erected cross to Rozhkovka.
On the Internet and in various publications, you can find dozens of interpretations of the events in Rozhkovka, accompanied by sometimes inaccurate details, often without reference to the original source. We tried to rely only on the testimonies of eyewitnesses, although we do not exclude that they could have forgotten what happened a little over the years. After all, as Mikhail Shelekhov rightly writes, “in the popular consciousness, over time, great events acquire the features of myth and folklore”.
It is clear that the German officer did not fly either to Hitler or to Berlin for pardon, did not photograph the Virgin Mary that appeared, it is also unlikely that the image he presented was “carved out of wood by a German soldier-artist who was being treated at that time in a hospital in Belovezh”, If only because there were enough of their own masters in the Kamenech region. Myths can become overgrown with their own myths and then it is very difficult to extract the original story from this nesting doll.