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.