His name was Anton.

The townspeople of Zborow, Poland called him “the village idiot.”
No family. No friends. He lived alone in a crumbling shack on the edge of town—forgotten by the world.

But when the Nazis came in July 1941 and slaughtered 1,000 Jewish men, then herded the rest into a ghetto, it wasn’t the strong or the wise who became a hero.

It was Anton.

The Zeiger family—two parents, two young sons, and two orphaned children they were trying to protect—begged for help. Every neighbor turned away.

Until they reached Anton.

He didn’t hesitate.

Though frail and overlooked, he dug a pit beneath his shack—deep enough to hide six souls. And for nine long months, by the dim light of a kerosene lamp, he kept them alive.
He scavenged food. He emptied their waste. He endured beatings and threats.
And he never said a word. Not even when the Nazis came searching.

He risked everything.
He saved everything.

When the war ended, the Zeigers emerged—alive.

In 1974, Anton Sukhinski was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
He was the only person in all of Zborow who helped.

The town’s "idiot" had a soul of fire.
He was the only one who saw with clarity.

Today, I ask myself:
Would I have been as brave?
Would I have answered the knock at my door?

Let the world remember Anton.
Not for what they called him—
But for what he became:
A light in the darkest night.