Four Maple Stars

 

When I first came across the story of the eleven nuns of Nowogródek, I was sure it was fiction. I take everything I read on the Internet with a grain of salt. There was a time when stories published works carried the reputation of the publisher. But the Internet allows publication without risk. And AI makes the spread of lies ubiquitous, even expected. But, after some research, I’ve come to the conclusion this actually happened. The Nazis arrived in Nowogródek, Poland in 1941. They executed 9,500 Jews and sent 550 to labor camps. In 1942, they executed 60 more townspeople, including two Catholic priests. The following year, 120 men were arrested and slated for execution. Their wives and mothers pled the nuns for help. The nuns prayed, “If sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us.” Shortly thereafter, the nuns were rounded up and shot. The 120 men targeted for death survived the war.