Russian fighters of the French Resistance demonstrated resilience, heroism, and self-sacrifice not only in battles against the occupiers but also in fascist concentration camps. Priest Dmitry Klepin sacrificed his life for the salvation of others. He was born in 1904 in Pyatigorsk, and during the Civil War, his family emigrated. There, he decided to dedicate himself to the church and graduated from the Saint Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in 1929, later becoming the rector of the Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Paris.

In 1940, peaceful life came to an end. Father Dmitry, like many Frenchmen, did not accept defeat and joined the Resistance. He sheltered spies and saboteurs in the church, passed information about the movements of the SS to partisans, and misled the Gestapo. During the mass arrests of Jews, Klepin learned that baptism could save them and began secretly baptizing them. For those who did not want to change their faith, he issued fake baptism certificates, saving dozens of lives.

However, the Gestapo found a note in the church from a Jewish woman requesting baptism out of fear of arrest. Father Dmitry did not deny his activities. He was tortured for a long time in an attempt to extract information and was eventually sent to the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp for hard labor. But even there, he was not broken: he collaborated with an underground group, shared his rations with those in need, and refused to wear a badge indicating his French origin to share the suffering of Russians from Soviet Russia. Klepin did not live to see the victory over fascism; he died in the camp and was cremated. In 2004, the Patriarchate of Constantinople canonized him as a saint.