In 1939, she belonged to the Daughters of Charity FdlC Congregation’s house in Rozdil, in the then Polish Stanislaviv Voivodeship, situated on the left bank of the upper Dniester, but served in the village of Derzhiv, c. 10 km away, on the other side of the river, near the Bilche‐Volitsa railway station on the Lviv–Stryi line. Resided on the local farm and i.a. helped in the local St John of Dukla church and curacy. The town of Rozdil was inhabited at that time by an estimated 5,800 people, of whom c. 37% were Poles/Roman Catholics, c. 24% Ukrainians/Greek Catholics, and c. 39% Jews. In contrast, the village of Derzhiv was inhabited by an estimated 1,900 people, of whom c. 55% were Poles, c. 36% Ukrainians, and c. 9% Jews. In Rozdil, the Daughters of Charity FdlC ran an institution comprising a hospital, an orphanage, and a school. The farm in Derzhiv also belonged to the FdlC Congregation.

After the German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II, as a result of the German–Russian Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the Fourth Partition of Poland, both Rozdil and Derzhiv found themselves under Russian occupation. Poles, as in the entire territory of Poland occupied by the Russians, were subjected to repression — communist indoctrination, predatory tax policy, deportations deep into Russia, i.e. „to Siberia”, arrests, and murders — especially of the leadership classes.

After the German attack on 22.06.1941 on their erstwhile ally, the Russians, and the beginning of the German occupation, the parish found itself in the Germ. Landkreis Stryj (Eng. Stryi County) in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. Galicia District), part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG.

Had to carry out her ministry there during a tragic period in the history of the region. In 01.1942, the Germans — as part of the German, genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which in the GG was implemented under the German codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt) — organized a ghetto in Rozdil, prob. of an open nature, into which they herded Jews from the surrounding towns and villages, including c. 150 from Derzhiv. On 04‐05.09.1942 the Germans, with considerable help from the collaborative Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), in some regions also referred to as the Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Security Battalions), i.e. Schuma, c. 1,000 Jews from the ghetto were deported — via Khodoriv — to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. Extermination Camp) VL Belzec, where they were all murdered. A few weeks later, most of the rest were transported to Stryi. From there, in 10‐11.1942, in three transports, c.3,500 Jews were transported to the above‐mentioned VL Belzec and murdered. The remaining Jews from Stryi — c. 4,000 — were murdered by the Germans in 1943. Then, on 04‐05.02.1943, the Germans, with the participation of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, shot also all the remaining Jews in Rozdil.

Helping Jews was basically impossible, not only because of the scale of the murders. Any kind of help was punishable by death — from 25.10.1941, a decree issued by the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. General Governor) of the GG, Hans Frank, was in force, according to which „Jews who leave their assigned district without authorization are subject to the death penalty. The same punishment applies to persons who knowingly provide such Jews with a hiding place”, and „Instigators and accomplices are subject to the same punishment as the perpetrator; an attempted act will be punished as a completed act. In less serious cases, heavy imprisonment or prison may be imposed”.

In 02.1943, when the Germans and Ukrainians were murdering the last Jews in Rozdil (after their extermination, only c. 1,992 inhabitants remained there), Roman Shukhevych, nom de guerre „Taras Chuprynka”, the chief commander of the Ukrainian, genocidal OUN/UPA organisation, who in 1941 was a member of the Ukrainian Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall (Eng. Special Group Nightingale) — a unit of the Germ. Wehrmacht (Eng. Armed Forces) that took part in the German attack on Russians in 1941, accused of participating in the Jewish pogrom in Lviv in 1941 — and later a member of the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201 (Eng. 201st Protection team Battalion) — responsible for the murder of Jews and civilians in the territory of Belarus — issued an order: „The extermination operation should be carried out according to the following principles: Polish villages are to be burned, and their populations massacred. Attacks on towns will take place in broad daylight, not at night. In mixed villages, the Polish population alone should be liquidated, and farmsteads should be burned only if they are 15 meters away and when there is no risk of the fire spreading to neighboring Ukrainian buildings. The Ukrainian population will receive instructions as to where to gather during the attack […] For every Ukrainian murdered, whether by Poles or Germans, 100 (one hundred) Poles will be executed”.

It was the de facto signal for the commencement of the «Genocidium Atrox» — i.e. the genocide perpetrated by Ukrainians, known as „Volyn genocide”.

Immediately thereafter, in 03.1943, the UPA issued an appeal to members of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei to desert and join the UPA. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.

Ukrainian génocidaires murdered tens of thousands of Poles and burned hundreds of villages in Volyn in 1943 as part of the «Genocidium Atrox».

When at the turn of 1943/1944 it became clear that Germany was losing the war in the East — on 24.12.1943, a large Russian offensive known as the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation began, which in 04.1944 reached a line c.80 km east of Lviv — the OUN/UPA decided to extend the genocide «Genocidium Atrox» to the Germ. Distrikt Galizien. Until then, the groups operating there were mainly — in order not to „annoy” the Germans — included those operating under the euphemistic Ukrainian name Ukr. Самооборонні кущові відділи (Eng. Self‐Defense Unit), i.e. SKW, reinforced by deserters from the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, seasoned in the genocide of Jews. The Ukrainian génocidaires then formed, among others, the OUN/UPA operational group „UPA‐West”, under the command of Vasyl Sydor, nom de guerre „Shelest” ‐just like his leader, the génocidaire, Roman Shukhevych, nom de guerre „Taras Chuprynka”, experienced in battles with the Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall and the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201‐ who ordered „to strike continuously at Poles until they are completely destroyed from these lands”. In the Germ. Landkreis Stryi, Sydor's plans were implemented by the OUN/UPA Military District WO‐5 „Makivka”, commanded by Ivan Beleyovych, nom de guerre „Dvynchuk”.

On 17.04.1944, the Russians suspended their offensive and the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation for the spring period. The front stopped c. 120 km east to Derzhiv, beyond Ternopil. The Ukrainians then decided to attack the village, in 1943 inhabited by c. 1,555 people.

The attack, on the night of 09‐10.05.1944, was carried out by an unknown Ukrainian unit referred to as Ukr. „Явір” (Eng. „Sycamor/Yavir”), supported by local bandit groups. Agents of the genocidal Ukrainian Ukr. Служба Безпеки (Eng. Security Service), i.e. SB OUN, tracking down political and ideological opponents of the OUN, physically liquidating them, and also participating in the murders of the Polish population, might have taken part in the attack. Sources indicate that „SB OUN could only issue death sentences to "enemies of the Ukrainian nation" […] For minor offenses, the so‐called buki were used, i.e. beatings with beech sticks from 10 to 50 strokes. Major offenses were punished by death. The sentence was carried out by shooting or hanging […] some group commanders "chopped off the heads of their victims"”. The SB OUN was founded in 1940, under the watchful care of the Germans, and training was conducted, among others, in Zakopane, at the „Stamary” hotel. According to the contemporary website of this hotel, „the training included the principles of sabotage, Gestapo methods of interrogation and methods of killing”. At the same time, i.e. on 20.02.1940, in Zakopane, at the „Pan Tadeusz” (Eng. „Sir Thaddeus”) and „Telimena” villas, the third so‐called „thematic conference” of the Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo, and the Russian Rus. Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел (Eng. People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs), i.e. NKVD, two genocidal allied organizations, debating cooperation and ways of combating and exterminating Poles in the territories they occupied. In Zakopane, all these undertakings were supervised by the Gestapo, which had its headquarters in the „Palace” villa, where Polish patriots were being murdered.

A witness recalled: „A band of Ukrainian bandits, who had been camping in the surrounding forests for two days, attacked Derzhiv at 10 p.m., simultaneously from three sides, burning Polish houses and murdering not only men, but also women and children, or burning them alive in the houses, without encountering any resistance. About 100 people died there — all the houses were burned down, although the Polish population constituted almost 50%”. Another added: „Banderites broke into the farmstead. They poured gasoline on the buildings and set them on fire. My cousin, who was milking a cow, was burned alive, and they dragged my cousins from the stable and murdered them. My uncle hurriedly escaped to the attic, dragging a ladder behind him. From there he called towards the village for all Poles to save themselves. Then he began to fervently pray «Under Your Protection». Finally, he fell silent, engulfed by flames. Meanwhile, in the house, the fire immediately engulfed the room where the youngest children were sleeping”.

Took refuge, along with two of her co‐nuns, Sr Veronica Mellinger and Sr Victoria Misiak, in the church.

The perpetrators broke into the church, murdering the nuns and c. 20 Poles sheltering there.

A witness recounted: „They killed over 100 people. They murdered three nuns, skinning their scalps. They were recognized them later because their hair was shorn […] In the morning, there was dead silence”.

The priest's housekeeper, her sister and her child, and two other children who were in the church at the time were killed. The youngest victim, Hedwig Zielińska, was 2 years old.

Sources say that „straw was brought into the church and the entire interior was burned, as well as the roof and the rectory with its buildings”. Later, when the Russian occupation began, the church was turned into a warehouse.

The authors of «Liber Albus» were unable to find any photos of the murdered nuns. They also do not have a monument or plaque dedicated to them. But , the génocidaire Roman Shukhevych was on 12.10.2007 posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. On 10.12.2017, on behalf of the „Coordination Council for the Commemoration of Decorated Knights of the OUN and UPA”, génocidaire Vasyl Sydor was posthumously awarded in Lviv the Silver Cross of Military Merit of the UPA, 1st Class (No. 009). Earlier, on 20.07.1945, the génocidaire Ivan Beleyovych was awarded the Bronze Cross of Military Merit of the UPA. In several locations, monuments and commemorative plaques have been erected to these Lat. „hostis humani generis”, the schools were named after them.

Lat. „O Tempora! O mores!”.