Omelian Kovch
1884-1944 20th century
Staying where you are of use, even when a door opens to leave.
Who was Omelian Kovch?
A married Greek Catholic priest, father of six, parish priest of Peremyshliany in Galicia. In 1942 he went into the burning synagogue to pull people out, then went on baptising Jews who asked him to, in spite of the German ban. Arrested, he was sent to Majdanek, where he heard confessions, comforted and buried. When his family and his metropolitan tried to get him released, he wrote to tell them to stop. He died in the camp in March 1944.
In their own words
I understand that you are trying to secure my release. But I am asking you not to do anything. Yesterday they killed fifty people. If I am not here, who will help them endure this suffering? They would go into eternity with all their sins, in a deep despair which leads to hell. Now they go to death with their heads held high, leaving their sins behind them. […] Besides heaven, this is the only place where I would want to be.