73rd Anniversary of the Crimes Committed in Markowa

Mateusz Szczepaniak, 25 March 2017
On 24th March 1944, Markowa, in the Podkarpackie Province, was the scene of the tragic deaths of the Ulma family and the two Jewish families, the Goldmans and the Szalls, who were hiding in their home. They were all shot by German and Polish police in Łańcut. In all probability, it was the Polish policeman, Włodzimierz Leś, who denounced them.

Wiktoria and Józef Ulma, together with their children – Stasia, Basia, Władzio, Frania, Antosia and Marysia – lived in the Podkarpackie village of Markowa. From the autumn of 1942, their hid eight Jews in their home – Saul Goldman and his four sons (in Łańcut they were called "Szall") and Gołda Grünfeld, Lea Didner and his small daughter (Chaim Goldman's daughter and granddaughter from Markowa).

Just before dan on 24th March 1944, German Police, accompanied by Polish Police from Łańcut, arrived at the Ulma home, have been told that Jews were hiding there. Wiktoria and Józef Ulma, together with the Jews they were hiding under their roof, were all shot. At the time, Wiktoria was in the ninth month of her pregnancy. At the end of the operation, Lieutenant Eilert Diecken decided to also kill the six children, among whom the oldest was eight years old and the youngest just eighteen months. In all probability, it was the Łańcut Polish policeman, Włodzimierz Leś, who denounced the Ulm family. He had earlier helped the Szall family.

Click here to read the story of the Ulma family

In 1995, Wiktoria and Józef Ulma were honoured posthumously with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. I 2010, the President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, awarded them the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polish Revival. The procedure for their beatification began in 2003.

On 17th March 2016, their name adorned the newly opened Museum of Poles Rescuing Jews During World War II. The focal point of the Museum's permanent exhibition is a symbolic representation of the Ulma home, holding artefacts they left behind.

Not only the Ulma family, click here to read the story of the Bar family

Helping Jews in the village of Markowa is mainly associated with the Ulma family. However, they were not the small village's only heroes. During the Holocaust, Jews also found shelter with the Bar family. Józef, with his wife Julia (nee Szpytma) and their daughter Janina, hid the Riesenbach family.

A ceremony marking the 73rd anniversary of the deaths of the Ulma family will take place today in Markowa.