Pope Francis has recognised the martyrdom of a Polish family killed by the German Nazi occupiers in 1944 for sheltering Jews in an effort to save them from the Holocaust. The decision puts the family on the path to possible sainthood.
Józef Ulma, a farmer, and his wife Wiktoria sheltered eight Jews in their home in the village of Markowa in what is now southeast Poland but was then under German-Nazi occupation. The couple did so despite the fact that the punishment for helping Jews was death for an entire family.
After being denounced by a local policeman, on 24 March 1944 Józef and the pregnant Wiktoria, along with their six children ranging in age from two to eight years old, were murdered by German gendarmes after first being forced to witness the execution of the Jews they had been hiding.
Jozef & Wiktoria Ulma risked their lives to help Jews during the #Holocaust. On 24 March 1944 the German police discovered the Jews in hiding.
The Jewish family was shot, as was the entire Ulma family – parents & 6 children. Wiktoria was 7 months pregnant. pic.twitter.com/awHVQjgMvZ
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 24, 2021
In 1995, the Ulmas were recognised by Israel’s Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, a title bestowed on non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust. Among the almost 30,000 people named as Righteous, there are more Poles (over 7,000) than any other national group.
The Ulma family’s beatification process began in Poland in 2003, with the documents then sent to the Vatican in 2011. In 2018, Pope Francis hailed the Ulmas as “an example of faithfulness to God and his commandments, of love for neighbour and of respect for human dignity”, reports Deutsche Welle.
In 2013, construction began on a museum in Markowa dedicated to Poles who saved Jews during the war. The museum, named after the Ulmas, opened in 2016.
In 2018, Poland’s parliament established a National Day of Remembrance for Poles Saving Jews Under German Occupation that is now held annually on 24 March, the anniversary of the Ulmas’ death.
The pope’s decision on Saturday to recognise the Ulmas’ martyrdom was welcomed by Poland’s ambassador to the Vatican, Adam Kwiatkowski. He told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that it was “a very good day for Poland, for our history, for the fact that Poles helped those who needed help in difficult times in their history”.
“The Ulma family show the example of Poles who, when rescuing Jews was punishable by death, were not afraid,” he added. “They opened their home and suffered the greatest cost, the cost of life.”
The head of Poland’s Catholic episcopate, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, thanked Pope Francis for his decision. President Andrzej Duda also tweeted about the news, saying that the Ulmas’ “heroism is a symbol”.
Poland’s current government has been keen to promote the history of the many Poles who helped Jews during the war, though critics accuse the ruling party of simultaneously seeking to suppress the history of Poles who betrayed, exploited or murdered Jews.
Main image credit: IPN
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
