Parliamentary project for the commemoration of the Ulma family

Maria Zawadzka, 16 November 2016
On March 23rd, 2011 the parliamentary Culture and Media Commission passed the project of a resolution commemorating the murder of the Ulma family and the eight Jews they were hiding. The project has been referred to parliamentary session.

March 24th is the 67th anniversary of the tragic events that took place in the village of Markowa near Łańcut (Podkarpackie province) in 1944.

“This resolution is a commemoration of the martyr’s death of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their whole family, murdered because of the help they offered to a Jewish family. This project intends to pay tribute to Poles killed in retaliation for rescuing Jews during the Second World War (…).

The resolution is also supposed to remind that many thousands of Poles tried to rescue Jews during the war. It emphasizes the fact that their extraordinary heroism restored the belief in the existence of some fundamental values. The project (…) also draws public attention towards the firm stand of the Polish authorities – both underground and emigration – who considered rescuing Jews as one of their duties” – explained the representative of the initiators of the resolution, MP Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski.

Finally the commission passed the first part of the resolution project – among the rejected excerpts were the ones concerning the role of the Catholic Church and the Żegota in rescuing Jews and the part in which was emphasized the necessity to support social initiatives for the commemoration of Poles saving Jews (especially the building of a monument on the Grzybowski Square and the museum in Markowa). As the commission explained, these excerpts were removed because of the need to strengthen the significance of the resolution, to emphasize the heroism of the Ulmas and to pay tribute to this particular family.

In the fall of 1942 Józef Ulma and his wife Wiktoria née Niemczak, living with their six children, were asked for help by the Jewish Szall family – a father who was cattle merchant before the war, and his four sons.

The Ulmas took them in. Shortly after that they also gave shelter to Gołda Goldman and her sister Lajka with her daughter.

A Blue Policeman, Włodzimierz Leś, denounced the Ulmas. On March 24th, 1944 German soldiers murdered the eight Jews and the Poles who were hiding them: Józef Ulma, his wife, who was in the last month of her pregnancy, and their six children: Staś, Basia, Władzio, Franuś, Antoś and Marysia. The oldest of them was 8 years old.

Józef and Wiktoria Ulma were honored with the title of the Righteous Among the Nations in 1985. In 2003 started the process of beatification of the Ulmas – currently it is in its last phase and the diocesan stage has recently finished. The Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews in the Podkarpacie Region will be created inthe village of Markowa near Łańcut until 2013. More about the Ulma family.