– Let’s say he died of a heart attack,” the Germans were laughing. They just shot Father Mieczyslaw Akrejc, a 58-year-old parish priest of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Braslav (now Belarus).

A Polish priest stood on the porch, defending the access to the presbytery, where the Jews who escaped from the liquidated ghetto in the city were hiding. It was June 25, 1942. Shortly before his death, Father Mieczyslaw managed to show them a place where they could find a safe hiding place.