On 24 March Poland commemorates the National Day of Remembrance for Poles Saving Jews under German occupation. According to Italian journalist Manuela Tulli, co-author of a book about the Ulma family, there is still little information in the public space about Poles saving Jews during the Holocaust.

Manuela Tulli is a journalist for the Italian news agency ANSA and co-author of the book “They Killed Even the Children. The story of the Ulma Family, the Martyrs who Helped the Jews” (Italian: Uccisero anche i Bambini). 

“There is a gap that needs to be filled, both in education and in international awareness’. – she assessed. She admitted that she had learnt about the story of the Ulma family while preparing a report on the help that Poles had shown to Ukrainians after the Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Tulli said in an interview for the Polish Press Agency PAP.

“The story of the Ulma family moves Italian public opinion with its simplicity and at the same time extraordinary heroism. As an Italian and a friend of Poland, I believe there is still a lack of awareness of the value of such stories and how much they can contribute to contemporary reflection on humanity, courage and solidarity,” the journalist added.

Tulli also reminded that there were about twenty families who also helped to hide the Jews from Nazi German persecution in the small village of Markowa. 

“Even after the tragic massacre of 24 March 1944, they continued their mission, risking their own lives and those of their loved ones. They are anonymous heroes who deserve our remembrance, respect and recognition. Their attitude is a model from which we can all draw,” the Italian journalist said, describing other families’ profiles.  

The commemoration of the National Day of Remembrance of Poles Saving Jews under German occupation takes place in various memorial sites around Poland, including the parish cemetery in Markowa (the home village of the Ulma Family), where at 10 a.m. the memory of the villagers who saved Jews will be honoured.

Polish President Andrzej Duda attends a ceremony of the unveiling of new names of Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust will be unveiled on plaques in a dedicated chapel in Toruń. So far, 1,239 heroes have been honoured on that site since 2016.

The National Day of Remembrance for Poles Saving Jews under German occupation was established on the initiative of President Andrzej Duda in 2018. 

It honours the Poles who risked their life to save the Jewish population during the German Nazi Occupation of Poland. 

The commemoration is symbolically connected to the anniversary of the execution of the Ulma Family from Markowa. 

On 24 March 1944, Jozef Ulma, his pregnant wife Wiktoria, their six children (including one unborn child), as well as eight Jews who were hidden by the Ulmas (members of the Didner, Grünfeld and Goldman families) were shot. 

None of the German officials and soldiers responsible for the murder were ever held accountable. Eliert Dicken who ordered the execution served as a policeman until the end of his life in post-war Germany. 

In 1995 Wiktoria and Józef Ulma were posthumously honoured for their heroic actions with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. 

In 2010, President Lech Kaczyński decorated them with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. On 10 September 2023, the beatification process for the Ulma Family was confirmed by a special decree of Pope Francis.

Source: PAP

Photo: Auschwitz Memorial, Vatican News PL 

Tomasz Modrzejewski