Let's discover history together
Discovering the history
Thursday, 13 August 2026
Tina Strobos: The Young Medical Student Who Helped to Save More Than 100 Jewish People
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Hereward the Wake: The Anglo-Saxon Rebel Who Defied William the Conqueror
The Ulma Family: The Polish Family Who Risked Everything to Hide Eight Jewish People
The Ulma Family: The Polish Family Who Risked Everything to Hide
Eight Jewish People
Today I want to find out a little about the Ulma family. Józef and Wiktoria
Ulma were a Polish Catholic couple who during the Second World War risked their
lives and the safety of their children by sheltering eight Jewish people.
Józef was born on the 2nd of March 1900 in Markowa, a village in
south-eastern Poland. He was a farmer and market gardener who also kept bees,
grew fruit trees and took photographs of the village.
Wiktoria Niemczak was born in Markowa on the 10th of December 1912. She went
to the local school then continued her education at a people’s university and
took part in an amateur theatre group.
Józef and Wiktoria married on the 7th of July 1935. They had six young
children: Stanisława, Barbara, Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni and Maria. By
early 1944, Wiktoria was also expecting their seventh child.
Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Jewish people were facing
increasingly severe persecution. In 1942, the Jewish community around Markowa
was subjected to deportations and killings. Those who escaped were forced to
search for hiding places, knowing that anyone caught helping them could also
face death.
Despite the enormous danger, the Ulmas agreed to shelter eight Jewish people
in their home. They were Saul Goldman and his four sons, together with Lea
Didner, Lea’s young daughter and Golda Grünfeld. They are sometimes described
collectively as members of the Goldman, Szall, Didner and Grünfeld families.
They appear to have arrived at the Ulma home during the second half of 1942.
Saul Goldman and his sons were sheltered first, with Lea Didner, her young
daughter and Golda Grünfeld joining them soon afterwards. They lived mainly in
the attic for more than a year.
Józef and Wiktoria were not wealthy, and providing food for eight additional
people placed a huge burden on the family. But they continued to protect them
despite the constant possibility of discovery.
The family were probably betrayed by Włodzimierz Leś, a member of the Polish
Blue Police who had previously been connected to some of the people in hiding.
Before dawn on the 24th of March 1944, German gendarmes, accompanied by Blue
Police officers, surrounded the Ulma home.
The eight Jewish people were killed first. Józef and Wiktoria were then
murdered, followed by their six children, who were all aged between one and
seven. Wiktoria’s unborn child also died. Altogether, seventeen people lost
their lives that morning.
The murders demonstrated the terrible danger faced by anyone who offered
shelter. Nevertheless, rescue efforts in Markowa did not end. Other local
families continued hiding Jewish people, and twenty-one survived the occupation
with their assistance.
In 1995, Yad Vashem recognised Józef and Wiktoria Ulma as Righteous Among
the Nations. In 2016, the Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews in World War
II opened in Markowa. It commemorates the Ulmas and other Polish people who
helped Jewish people during the Holocaust.
On the 10th of September 2023, Józef, Wiktoria and their children were
beatified together by the Catholic Church.
The Ulma family could not save the people hidden inside their home, but
their decision to offer them shelter is an extraordinary example of courage,
compassion and sacrifice.
Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Martin Frobisher: The Tudor Explorer Who Mistook Worthless Rock for Gold
Edward Chacza: The Polish Rescuer Who Guided Jewish People to Safety
Monday, 10 August 2026
George Julius Poulett Scrope: A Georgian-born geologist who became a prominent Victorian scientist and politician.
Zofia Baniecka: The Polish Resistance Member Who Sheltered More Than 50 Jewish People
Zofia Baniecka: The Polish Resistance Member Who Sheltered More Than
50 Jewish People
Today I want to find out a little about Zofia Baniecka. She was a courageous
Polish woman who worked with the resistance and helped to shelter more than 50
Jewish people during the Second World War.
Zofia was born on the 12th of May 1917 in Warsaw, Poland. She was an only
child. Her father was a sculptor and her mother was a teacher and grew up in an
educated, open-minded household. Although her parents were not particularly
religious, Zofia attended a Catholic school before studying at the University
of Warsaw.
When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Zofia and her parents started
to become involved with the Polish underground resistance. Zofia worked with
the Peasant Battalions, known as the Bataliony Chłopskie. She acted as a
courier, carrying messages, delivering instructions and distributing illegal
underground newspapers.
Her parents were also involved. Her mother transported weapons hidden inside
an ordinary shopping bag, and her father secretly carried food and books to
Jewish friends trapped inside the Warsaw Ghetto.
The Baniecka family’s original home was located within the area chosen for
the new ghetto, forcing them to leave. With help from their resistance
contacts, they moved into a larger apartment close to the ghetto walls.
Zofia and her mother began opening their home to Jewish people who were
trying to escape persecution. The apartment was divided using curtains, with
different individuals and families hidden behind them. Friends, acquaintances
and complete strangers were given shelter.
Zofia also worked with a Jewish aid committee to find safe hiding places for
children. When their own apartment became too crowded, she helped arrange
accommodation elsewhere.
Her father was killed during an Soviet air raid in 1941, leaving Zofia and
her mother to continue their dangerous work alone. Despite the devastating loss
and the constant threat of discovery, they continued sheltering people until
the Warsaw Uprising began in August 1944.
Among those they helped was a family of ten who escaped from the Warsaw
Ghetto during the following the uprising there in April 1943. Altogether, Zofia
and her mother are believed to have sheltered at least 50 Jewish people.
After the war, Zofia was arrested by Poland’s Communist authorities because
of her resistance activities, although she was later released. She became an
artist and remained politically active. During the 1970s and 1980s, she and her
husband supported democratic opposition groups and distributed underground
publications for the Solidarity movement.
Zofia died in Warsaw on the 2nd of June 1993. In 2016, she was posthumously
recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations for the extraordinary
courage she showed during the Holocaust.
Tina Strobos: The Young Medical Student Who Helped to Save More Than 100 Jewish People
Tina Strobos: The Young Medical Student Who Helped to Save More Than 100 Jewish People How much courage would it take to continue hiding peo...
-
From Frontline Nurse to Lasting Voice: The Story of June Wandrey I have been learning about the lives of those who served during the World W...
-
Many remember Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon for their failed marriage and the bitter annulment that followed. Henry’s great obsession w...
-
When Henry VIII Rejected Anne of Cleves: Politics and Cromwell’s Fall Today I want to find out a little more about the brief marriage of...