A Martyred Family

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.