March 24 is simply a day of peculiar remembrance about Poles who risked their lives hiding Jews. On that day of 1944, the German gendarmes murdered Joseph and Victoria Ulms of Markowa, their children, as well as 8 Jews to whom the Ulm household gave shelter.
The Memorial Day of Poles saving Jews under German business was established in 2018. On the day of the celebration, the date of March 24 was chosen, the memory of the brutal shooting of the household of Joseph and Victoria Ulm and their children.
In Poland occupied by the Germans, death was threatened for providing assistance to the judaic population. The Germans executed immediately. They killed not only Jews, but Poles, along with their loved ones, spared no one, not even children. Despite threatening death, many Poles hid Jews. This was besides the case in Markowa, with over 4.5 1000 inhabitants of the village surviving almost 120.
For a year and a half, Joseph and Victoria Ulms hid 8 Jews. However, after 1 of the villagers reported to the Germans that the household had engaged in helping the persecuted, The Ulms were shot.
Joseph and Victoria Ulms risked their lives to hide a judaic household during the Holocaust. On March 24, German police discovered hiding. The judaic household was shot. The same destiny happened to the full Ulm family. Victoria was then 7 months pregnant. pic.twitter.com/85SR8UqmeE
— Auschwitz Museum (@MuseumAuschwitz) March 24, 2022
As witnesses mentioned, and as evidenced by the materials available to the Institute of National Memory, the action was prepared. The gendarmes called 4 horse and cartmen from the village adjacent to Markowa on the night of 23 to 24 March. Men were not given a reason to come. Before dawn, German MPs and grenade police arrived outside the Ulms' house. The gendarmes shot hidden Jews, as well as Joseph and his wife Victoria, who was in advanced pregnancy. After reasoning about it, the Germans besides shot six of their children. As it turned out, at the time of Victoria's execution, she began giving birth to her seventh child.
Joseph Ulma was a talented and well-known fruitist in Markowa, raised bees and silkworms. Ulma was besides known for his social and Catholic activity, and organized a library for residents of Markowa. He was passionate about photography. Viktor was devoted to home and raising children. From the stories of witnesses, as the author of her biography, Maria Szulikowska, said, a beautiful character emerges. She was a female smart, calm, warm, industrious, loving and open to their needs and problems. Those who remembered the Ulm home remembered her as an highly organized, open and warm woman, full of passion and interest, devoted not only to the household but besides to the community. The Ulms were besides profoundly believers who, in helping others, fulfilled the Gospel message of neighbour love.
In 1995, Joseph and Victoria were given the posthumous title of the Righteous Among the Nations. In 2010 they were awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and in 2023 the Ulmów household was beatified.
AG
