Job Opening – Associate Professor in Contemporary and Systematic Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford and Mansfield College, Oxford @UniofOxford @OU_TheoReligion @MansfieldOxford

Today is 80 years since the so-called “Hare Hunt of Mühlviertel” in Austria. On the night between February 1st and 2nd, 1945, a large group of captives of the Nazi concentration camp in Mauthausen, dared escape. They knocked out the KZ security with fire extinguishers, disabled the electric wire with wet blankets, threw a ladder on the wall and ran for it. There were around 400 of them. All Soviet PoW’s. Many from Ukraine. Around 100 remained right there, by the wall. Some managed to escape but were too weak to run. Others could run but were instantly gunned down. Yet around 300 ran into the snowy dark night. That was the moment when SS and local civilians started what they called a “hare hunt”. Armed partly with fireguns and partly just with spades, they went hunting for the helpless defenseless walking skeletons. Soon the streets of Mühlviertel were awash in blood. Only eleven PoWs managed to survive. Probably, the two most famous ones were from Ukraine. Mykhaylo Rybchynski was from Kyiv,. Mykola Tsekalo was from Luhansk. They were hungry, desolate, half-dead. They went from house to house looking for a sign of hope. In one of the windows, they saw it: an icon on the wall instead of Adolf Hitler’s portrait. They decided to knock. The owners were the Austrian family of Langthaler, faithful Catholics. Four of their sons were fighting in Wehrmacht on the Eastern front. That night the Langthalers were discussing over the dinner how cruel this whole thing with “Hare Hunt” was. Maria Langthaler said - “Oh God I do hope people on the other side would be kinder to our sons...” And that was the moment when Mykhailo Rybchinsky knocked. The husband said - “You know what SS does to us if they get wind that we harbor fugitives. It’s your decision and your responsibility to open or not.” Maria opened. Mykhailo and Mykola remained hiding there for three long months, till the US troops came. Risking everything, they saved the two Ukrainian soldiers. For a long time after this, Lanthalers were seen in the village as traitors. Now, this family is Austria’s pride. In 2018 I visited the last living participant of this dramatic story: Maria Langthaler’s daughter Anna (she was 13 in 1945) and awarded her a Ukrainian medal. As ambassador, I also sent her a box of Ukrainian chocolates every Christmas. She always made sure to send back a thank-you note. The most amazing part of the story is this: out of four Maria’s sons who fought in that war, all four came back physically unscathed. One became a monk. Another one became a priest. On this photo you can see the Langthaler family and the two boys they saved. Mykhaylo Rybchynskyi is second from the left. Mykola Tsekalo is on the right. Mykola was the only of eight sons who made it home from that war.

"They went from house to house looking for a sign of hope. In one of the windows, they saw it: an icon on the wall instead of Adolf Hitler’s portrait. They decided to knock."

Canada is a member of the Commonwealth. Now is the time for all fellow @commonwealthsec members to state: no to economic coercion. 🇨🇦🇬🇧

Charity appeal by @TheTimes and Sunday Times closes for donations at midnight It's been run by @lara_wildenberg and @laurasilver_, raising money to support male mental health, children in orphanages, and allergy sufferers Last chance to give a few quid: