- Jan 15, 2021
- 11
- 11
- Country
- France
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Eastern Orthodox
- Marital Status
- Married
After the surrender in 1945, Germany presented a depressing picture: most cities laid in ruins. The country was divided into zones by the winners.
The western zones were flooded with thousands of refugees from the Soviet zone. Masses of foreign workers were coaxed out or forcibly exported from many European countries. The Russians, who were forced into slave labor, were in especially difficult conditions. For greater moral humiliation, they were forced to wear the odious label "OST". Camps for other foreign prisoners of war were kept with quite tolerable conditions; they were supervised by the international Red Cross. And nearby there were death camps for our prisoners, all of whom Stalin declared "traitors to the motherland". Foreigners happily returned home to their loved ones. Not so for Russians. They were obliged to go to their homeland, which declared that it "forgave them and was waiting for them". But they were very well aware of the treatment that awaited them there. Unhappy and desperate, they tried as best they could to avoid this violence. The Western democracies sold them out to Stalin. SMERSH bloodhounds scoured the western zones, as if at home, snatching these outcasts in broad daylight, in front of the eyes of the Allied administrations.
Despair and consciousness of doom paralyzed the will of unfortunate people. Those who believed and hoped in God’s mercy survived, while others who behaved like an enchanted rabbit before a boa constrictor, perished. Salvation came from the Church Abroad, from Russian exiles who did not break their spiritual connection with Russia. This was about saving the souls and the very lives of the unfortunate displaced Russians. The heart of this endeavor was Archimandrite Vitaly (Ustinov), the later first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). The biography of his Eminence is unusual in our time. After the revolution, his family managed to settle in France. It was apparently a patriarchal, truly Russian family. There he grew up. He studied in prestigious French Lyceum, in which he was the only Russian, and graduated from it with honors. After graduation, a wide life path opened up before him: the opportunity for a brilliant career and a comfortable life. However, neither material well-being nor the open door to French life fully satisfied him. He was Russian and Orthodox, and keenly felt his responsibility to Russia.
From Archimandrite Vitaly and Archimandrite Nathanael (Prince Lvov), later an archbishop and famous church writer, the author had a chance to hear about their missionary activities during these critical years. This was a fruitful, responsible and often dangerous service. After all, the preaching of the word of God was carried out under a totalitarian system with a clear bias towards paganism. It was the time of a bloody and unsuccessful war with the Russian "Untermensch", and every imprudent step could lead to big trouble. The Germans were embittered and tried to take it out on defenseless prisoners. Archimandrite Vitaly fearlessly performed his pastoral duty. He constantly traveled to Russian workers and prisoner of war camps. In relation to the camp administration, he behaved not like a timid supplicant, but as having every right to do so. Upon arrival at the camp, he simply demanded from the authorities that the Russians be released from work in order to attend the divine service. The Germans, not accustomed to such behavior, folded, assuming that he had the right to do so. I remember one such incident that Vladyka spoke about. Once he asked the commandant to gather the workers for service. The latter muttered sharply: "There is no order for this," pointing at the large portrait of the Führer. To this, without hesitation, Vladyka blurted out:
"And I have an order from above," pointing his finger up. The commandant was taken aback and immediately gave orders, and the service passed with great excitement. It was only when he left the camp that he realized how much danger he was in. He had such unshakable faith and passion. Without any doubt, the Lord guided and protected his faithful servant.
The Reich collapsed. The winners rejoiced and made plans to punish the aggressor. Foreigners were taking it out on the Germans. Nonetheless the tragedy of the Russian martyrs continued: the threat of forced repatriation hanged over them. They had to pay for the idiocy and crimes of "their own party and government". Then the activity of Archimandrite Vitaly unfolded in full. Vladyka now directed all his spiritual and physical strengths and talents not only to the spiritual revival of the disadvantaged, but also to their physical salvation. With God's help he managed to fulfill his Christian duty.
One typical incident will never be forgotten. At the last moment before the deportation, Vladyka manages to snatch a hundred Russian people from the jaws of the Soviet bloodhounds. It happened like this: men, women and even children captured in different places were loaded onto several English military trucks to be sent back to their homeland. Smiling English soldiers tried to calm and please the rushing and crying people with few German words they knew — "You are going home," they said and were sincerely surprised that these people did not show any joy, but sat dejectedly, as if lowered into water. Vladyka took place in the first truck, cheerfully talking with the driver. Apparently the driver was fully confident that Vladyka was in charge of the transport and knew the road well. At some point Vladyka said that they needed to turn there. And soon the transport entered a large camp, but it was not a Soviet repatriation camp, it was a Polish camp. It turned out that he had agreed in advance with the commandant of that camp about the arrival of "Russians from Poland". Thus, thanks to the resourcefulness and determination of Vladyka, these unfortunate wanderers were saved. Subsequently, they formed the core of the Orthodox camp of Fischbeck. Officially they passed as Poles because there shouldn’t have been any Russians in the English zone. When the resettlement of displaced persons in different countries of the world finally began, they emigrated safely and began a normal life. The still living "Fishbeckites" remember their savior with gratitude.
The western zones were flooded with thousands of refugees from the Soviet zone. Masses of foreign workers were coaxed out or forcibly exported from many European countries. The Russians, who were forced into slave labor, were in especially difficult conditions. For greater moral humiliation, they were forced to wear the odious label "OST". Camps for other foreign prisoners of war were kept with quite tolerable conditions; they were supervised by the international Red Cross. And nearby there were death camps for our prisoners, all of whom Stalin declared "traitors to the motherland". Foreigners happily returned home to their loved ones. Not so for Russians. They were obliged to go to their homeland, which declared that it "forgave them and was waiting for them". But they were very well aware of the treatment that awaited them there. Unhappy and desperate, they tried as best they could to avoid this violence. The Western democracies sold them out to Stalin. SMERSH bloodhounds scoured the western zones, as if at home, snatching these outcasts in broad daylight, in front of the eyes of the Allied administrations.
Despair and consciousness of doom paralyzed the will of unfortunate people. Those who believed and hoped in God’s mercy survived, while others who behaved like an enchanted rabbit before a boa constrictor, perished. Salvation came from the Church Abroad, from Russian exiles who did not break their spiritual connection with Russia. This was about saving the souls and the very lives of the unfortunate displaced Russians. The heart of this endeavor was Archimandrite Vitaly (Ustinov), the later first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). The biography of his Eminence is unusual in our time. After the revolution, his family managed to settle in France. It was apparently a patriarchal, truly Russian family. There he grew up. He studied in prestigious French Lyceum, in which he was the only Russian, and graduated from it with honors. After graduation, a wide life path opened up before him: the opportunity for a brilliant career and a comfortable life. However, neither material well-being nor the open door to French life fully satisfied him. He was Russian and Orthodox, and keenly felt his responsibility to Russia.
From Archimandrite Vitaly and Archimandrite Nathanael (Prince Lvov), later an archbishop and famous church writer, the author had a chance to hear about their missionary activities during these critical years. This was a fruitful, responsible and often dangerous service. After all, the preaching of the word of God was carried out under a totalitarian system with a clear bias towards paganism. It was the time of a bloody and unsuccessful war with the Russian "Untermensch", and every imprudent step could lead to big trouble. The Germans were embittered and tried to take it out on defenseless prisoners. Archimandrite Vitaly fearlessly performed his pastoral duty. He constantly traveled to Russian workers and prisoner of war camps. In relation to the camp administration, he behaved not like a timid supplicant, but as having every right to do so. Upon arrival at the camp, he simply demanded from the authorities that the Russians be released from work in order to attend the divine service. The Germans, not accustomed to such behavior, folded, assuming that he had the right to do so. I remember one such incident that Vladyka spoke about. Once he asked the commandant to gather the workers for service. The latter muttered sharply: "There is no order for this," pointing at the large portrait of the Führer. To this, without hesitation, Vladyka blurted out:
"And I have an order from above," pointing his finger up. The commandant was taken aback and immediately gave orders, and the service passed with great excitement. It was only when he left the camp that he realized how much danger he was in. He had such unshakable faith and passion. Without any doubt, the Lord guided and protected his faithful servant.
The Reich collapsed. The winners rejoiced and made plans to punish the aggressor. Foreigners were taking it out on the Germans. Nonetheless the tragedy of the Russian martyrs continued: the threat of forced repatriation hanged over them. They had to pay for the idiocy and crimes of "their own party and government". Then the activity of Archimandrite Vitaly unfolded in full. Vladyka now directed all his spiritual and physical strengths and talents not only to the spiritual revival of the disadvantaged, but also to their physical salvation. With God's help he managed to fulfill his Christian duty.
One typical incident will never be forgotten. At the last moment before the deportation, Vladyka manages to snatch a hundred Russian people from the jaws of the Soviet bloodhounds. It happened like this: men, women and even children captured in different places were loaded onto several English military trucks to be sent back to their homeland. Smiling English soldiers tried to calm and please the rushing and crying people with few German words they knew — "You are going home," they said and were sincerely surprised that these people did not show any joy, but sat dejectedly, as if lowered into water. Vladyka took place in the first truck, cheerfully talking with the driver. Apparently the driver was fully confident that Vladyka was in charge of the transport and knew the road well. At some point Vladyka said that they needed to turn there. And soon the transport entered a large camp, but it was not a Soviet repatriation camp, it was a Polish camp. It turned out that he had agreed in advance with the commandant of that camp about the arrival of "Russians from Poland". Thus, thanks to the resourcefulness and determination of Vladyka, these unfortunate wanderers were saved. Subsequently, they formed the core of the Orthodox camp of Fischbeck. Officially they passed as Poles because there shouldn’t have been any Russians in the English zone. When the resettlement of displaced persons in different countries of the world finally began, they emigrated safely and began a normal life. The still living "Fishbeckites" remember their savior with gratitude.
