Pope Francis just approved a decree of martyrdom for the
family of Jozef and Wiktoria Ulm, who, along with their children, were murdered
by the Germans for saving Jews during World War II. They will soon be beatified. The Ulma
family lived in the village of Markowa in the pre-war Lwów province. Before the
war, both Józef and Wiktoria were heavily involved in social life as well as helping the Jewish community of
Markowa – most probably in late 1942. Despite
poverty and risk, the Ulmas gave shelter to eight Jews: Saul Goldman and his
four sons, and two daughters and 2
grand-daughters. However, their heroic attitude
did not escape the attention of the Germans. They were probably denounced to
the Germans for harbouring Jews by Włodzimierz Leś, a navy-blue policeman. In
occupied Poland, any kind of help to Jews was punishable by death, and this was
also the fate of the Ulmas. On March
24, 1944, in the morning, five German gendarmes and several navy-blue policemen
arrived in front of the house of the Ulmas and shot the entire family – Józef,
Wiktoria, who was pregnant, and their six children: Stanisława (8 years old),
Barbara (6 years old), Władysław (5 years old), Franciszek (4 years old),
Antoni (3 years old) and Maria (1.5 years old). They also murdered the Jews the
Ulmas were hiding, the entire Goldman family. On 13 September 1995, the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem
posthumously honoured Józef and Wiktoria Ulma with the title of “Righteous
Among the Nations”. In 2016, a museum named after them was opened in Markowa,
which is dedicated to all Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust. The Ulma family symbolises the attitude of Poles who, risking
their lives, brought help to Jews persecuted by the Germans during World War
II. Many of them – like the Ulmas – paid the highest price for this heroic
attitude. This is best evidenced by the fact that Poles make up the largest
number of recipients of the ‘Righteous
Among the Nations’ medal for rescuing Jews
during World War II.
Monday 5 June 2023
A Martyred Family
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