The Ulma Family Museum in Markowa, Poland (Photo: Fundacja Edukacyjna Jana Karskiego)
Markowa, Poland – On March 17 the Ulma Family Museum of Poles Who Saved Jews was opened with a special ceremony attended by the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda and the Israeli Ambassador to Poland Anna Azari. The Jan Karski Educational Foundation was represented by Board member, Ewa Wierzyńska; and our sister organization Fundacja Edukacyjna Jana Karskiego in Warsaw was represented by its President, Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka.
The tragic story of the Ulma family has written itself into the history of World War II as an example of the righteous acting of many Poles who risked and, in many cases, lost their lives while helping and saving the Jews from the Holocaust. At the end of 1942, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, who lived with their six children in a small village of Markowa in south-eastern Poland, were trying to hide eight Jewish neighbors: Saul Goldman and his four sons, as well as Chaim Goldman’s two daughters and granddaughter: Leia (Layce) Didner and her daughter and Genia (Golda) Gruenfeld. The couple were denounced by a member of the Polish Blue Police* Włodzimierz Leś and on the early morning of March 24, 1944, German policemen accompanied by members of the Blue Police arrived at the Ulma property. They first captured and killed the Jews, then Józef Ulma and his wife, Wiktoria who was pregnant with their seventh child. Then they killed their six children, only 2-8 year of age. Some of the executioners were later punished, including Włodzimierz Leś, who was sentenced and killed by the order of the Polish Underground court. Józef and Wiktoria Ulma were posthumously bestowed the titles of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1995.
“All who proclaim and spread hatred among nations, all who proclaim and spread anti-Semitism are trampling on the Ulma family’s grave,” said President Duda during the ceremony. “Let the tragedy of the Polish and Jewish nations during World War II be a dramatic lesson, which we and the generations to come should learn from.” He also urged to pass this lesson to the future generations, who need to be taught the truth about both the heroism and the roguery. “The truth builds the brotherhood between nations and fosters the creation of friendly ties. Only the truth can be a foundation to a good future,” concluded President Duda.
Despite the heartbreaking story of the Ulma family, there were people in Markowa village who were successful in their attempts of sheltering Jews. Altogether 21 Jews were saved there during WWII. Abraham Segal was one of them and his two sons (one of them pictured on the right with Ambassador Azari), two daughters and two granddaughters came from Israel to Markowa to attend the opening of the Museum. He was unable to come to Poland due to frail health but sent a message which was viewed on a big screen. He spoke in fluent Polish about his experience during the Holocaust and about his rescue by the Poles of Markowa.
The Museum building was blessed by Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, President of the Polish Episcopal Conference, and Archbishop Józef Michalik. The Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich attached to the Museum entrance a replica of the mezuzah from the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
Read the crelated overage in the New York Times and on the official website of the President of the Republic of Poland President.pl.
*The Blue Police (Polish: Granatowa policja) was the popular name of the Polish police in the Nazi German occupied area of Poland, known as General Government during World War II. It was created by the Nazi German authorities after the invasion of Poland in 1939, with the purpose of helping Germans keep law and order on the General Government territory.
