Recluse hid from Nazis in his parents’ attic in Ukraine for 57 YEARS – and only emerged for a tragic reason

STEPAN Kovalchuk spent more than five decades tucked away in a small attic of his parent’s house for a gut wrenching reason. In 1942, the Ukrainian recluse entered the tiny dwelling to escape Nazi and Soviet troops, and remained hidden for fear of being drafted into the menacing Red Army. RexStepan got by with the help of his mother and sister[/caption] AlamyNazis marched into Ukraine and took men as slaves[/caption] GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LTD.Stepan lived in the tiny space for 57 years[/caption] On a trip to a monastery in a nearby village, Stepan and his mother heard horrifying tales of Nazis kidnapping young Ukrainians and sending them for slave labour. To avoid a similar fate, his sister and mother helped to hide him in the small upstairs alcove – where he would remain for the next 57 years. His sister Melanka worked as a seamstress to support her brother and a church deacon in a neighbouring village. Stepan told Day Kyiv: “Hardly a day passed without three or four men stepping over our threshold. But I stayed still, not to give myself away.” The hermit became used to his odd way of life, and had a system with his sister – she did machine sewing while he did manual work. He said: “I never sat still. That is my pride and joy.” Stepan lived quiet life alongside his mother and sister until she died in the early 1980s, and he reemerged to go to church with his sister. He recalled: “It was interesting for me, I hadn’t seen all this before.” Stepan only emerged for good after his sister tragically died in 1999 – marking 57 years he had lived in the small attic in the Ukrainian village. In the days leading up to her death, he ate only dried bread in the attic along with water. Melanka only revealed that her brother was in an attic to her cousin Antonina Petrushenko while they were digging up potatos. Antonina recalled: “Melanka was very sad, she said she should not die. I told her that we are all are mortal, we all have to do die. Why, are you leaving behind small kids? Only then did she tell me about her brother who had been in an attic for 57 years…” Ten days after Melanka died, Stepan finally ventured out into the yard of the home had stayed in for 57 years for good. A photo taken of him in 1999 revealed Stepan to be a pale old man a hunch back from the years of bending down in the attic. Since he began living a more normal life in 1999, he’s reconnected with old friends, including a neighbour who he used to “run barefoot with in childhood.” RexHe spent time binding books, writing and reading[/caption] RexVillagers were fascinated by his tale[/caption] AlamyTanks rolled through small Ukrainian villages[/caption]