On this day of Tisha B’Av we mourn the destruction of our two Holy Temples. It is the anniversary of their destruction. And my mind has been focused on those tragic events since late yesterday afternoon… before and during the recitation of Eicha last night and during the recitation this morning of the Kinnos.
But now as I sit on the floor in a corner of my house… laptop in front of me, my thoughts turn to the holocaust. As is well known many tragedies are remembered on this day. Since this tragedy is so recent and so enormous, I cannot help but turn my attention to it. It is almost impossible for me to not think about what happened to my family: my parents, my brothers, my uncles and my aunts. The holocaust was a fulfillment of the Tochecha, the Torah’s promise of punishment for not living according to its dictates. I am not, God forbid, judging any of the six million holy martyrs who were tortured and murdered. I am only saying that a description of what many Jews including survivors went through can be found in that portion of the Torah.
Strangely enough, Tisha B’Av is also considered a Yom Tov. Though we practice many of the rituals of mourning, like sitting on the floor and not wearing leather shoes...we do not say Tachanun or Avinu Makenu on this day. I believe this is because of our belief that in the Messianic era Tisha B’Av will turn from the day of mourning into a time of great celebration and joy. Tisha B’Av is the saddest day of the year, but it is also a day of hope… a day of inspiration. In every tragedy, even one as evil and painful as the holocaust inspiring events have occurred. There were ordinary people who rose to extraordinary heights. Heroes were born. Jews were saved by non Jews who in some cases paid the ultimate penalty for their actions. My father in law, Reb Mordechai Sauerhaft, ZTL, a brilliant Talmid Chacham of the old European school was saved by one such individual.
Mr. Mlodnicki (…unfortunately I do not know his first name) was a religious Roman Catholic who was a deacon and organ player in his Church, in the small village of Mikolyow near the large Ukrainian city of Lvov. The Ukraine was one of the most anti Semitic enclaves in Europe. Mr. Mlodnicki’s connection with my father in law prior to the holocaust was strictly business. He was a customer at my father in law’s family textile business. He saw in my father in law honesty and fairness. Mr. Mlodnicki was treated like the Tzelem Elokim that he was. In an honorable and forthright fashion.
When Mikolyow was occupied at first by Russians my father in law decided to hide his stock of better fabrics. The Russians did not take too kindly to private enterprise in general and Jews in particular.
When the Nazis later occupied the Ukraine, its citizenry couldn’t wait to give up the Jews. Jews were rounded up and forced into doing the most disgusting manual labor imaginable. When the Nazis were done with their Jewish slave laborers they sent them to the death camps. My father in law who was such a slave laborer thinking the end was near dug up those fabrics and gave them to Mr. Mlodnicki. He did not want the Germans to have them!
Soon enough came the time for those deportations. My father in law managed to hide while most of the deportations took place. After three days when things quieted down he took a chance and went to see how his town had fared. What he saw was devastation. He saw not a single human being in the city. Torn Seforim were strewn all over the ground,… broken utensils… broken glass. It was a ghost town. He found an old piece of bread and some water and drank it mixed with tears. His body was so weak after three harrowing days of hiding that he fell asleep for 24 hours. When he awoke he thought he was dreaming! Having basically fasted for three days he knew that if he did not get food soon he would die. Eventually he found a few remaining Jews who fed him and told him that almost the entire town was transported to a death camp.
But the Nazis weren’t finished.
A few weeks later the remaining Jews were again put into forced labor. The cycle had begun again. Once this project was completed, these Jews would be shipped off to a death camp too. As the project neared an end, one of my fathers in law’s fellow Jewish slave laborers mentioned that he had heard that a gentile was hiding Jews. His name was Mlodnicki. My father in law told his fellow worker of his relationship with him. The worker suggested that my father in law contact him to see if he would be able to take him in.
My father in law was skeptical. He didn’t believe it was possible to hide from the Nazis for any great length of time and he had no guarantees that if push came to shove, that he wouldn’t be handed over. One day by chance he met Mr. Mlodnicki in the street and decided to ask him on the spur of the moment if he could take him. His answer was that if the Jews that he was already hiding were not opposed, he would. After they OK’d it, he decided to see for himself what this entailed and spent one night there. The following is what my father in law saw.
Mr. Mlodnicki had a wife and three children who showed constant kindness and compassion. The house had one bedroom. It was given over to a Jewish couple. The windows were covered and one could peek and see who was at the door from there. The Jews of that household were given free reign of the house and treated like honored guests... always being addressed as sir or madam.
There was no indoor plumbing in those days especially in small rural towns. Jews dared not go outside. Mr. Mlodnicki and his family carried out human waste everyday. The Mlodnickis had also dug a large pit in the utility room and camouflaged it just in case his guests needed to hide. Mr. Mlodnicki would go shopping once a week and buy enough groceries for everyone in the house.
My father in law was still reluctant to put his fate in the hands of another. But Mr. Mlodnicki was persistant. He relented. A place was prepared for my father in law to sleep in the utility room. Eventually 13 people were hidden in this one house.
Polish newspapers were provided every day to the guests so they could learn progress of the war. Life was as normal as could be for these Jews under those circumstances. Whenever anyone came to the door the ‘guard’ at the window informed everyone so that they could go hide in the ultility room.
Meanwhile the barbarism going on outside could be seen from the windows of Mr. Mlodnicki’s house.
One time Mrs. Mlodnicki’s brother, a Polish priest had come to visit. He knew what his sister and brother in law were doing. He also knew the penalty for being discovered. It was immediate death. Mrs. Mlodnicki had developed heart trouble from the daily fear of being caught and she felt she could no longer handle it. She asked her brother to try and convince her husband that it was too much for her. Mr. Mlodnicki refused to renege on his promise to hide them. He told his wife if she could not take the fear she should stay away as long as she wanted.
Twelve months had passed. The Germans were losing the war and retreating from the Russians. The Germans started requisitioning local houses. Mr. Mlodnicki thought the end was near. For three months they live in perpetual fear. The intensity of the fighting increased one August day and the shelling and bombardment of the town was very heavy. Finally At 4:00 in the afternoon it was all over. The Russians had taken the town and the Jews were liberated. It was on Tisha B’Av, 1944.
Mr. Mlodnicki was one of the greatest heroes of the holocaust. He was truly a righteous gentile. A man truly was worthy of having Kaddish said for him when he died.
Can one say Kaddish for a Gentile?
That Shaila was asked of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry during the holocaust. He saved all of his Shailos and Teshuvos from the Kovno Ghetto. He wrote them on scraps of paper and later published them. The Teshuva can be seen excerpted here from the amazing volume called ‘Responsa from the Holocaust’.
