1 of 1 grave of the Ulma family in Markowa, the hometown of the Neuseligen. Father, mother and seven children were murdered by Nazis for hiding Jews. — Photo: BARTOSZ SIEDLIK/ AFP Grave of the Ulma family in Markowa, the hometown of the Neuseligen. Father, mother and seven children were murdered by Nazis for hiding Jews. — Photo: BARTOSZ SIEDLIK/ AFP
A Polish couple and their seven children, murdered by the Nazis during World War II for hiding persecuted Jews, were beatified this Sunday (10). This is a milestone because it is the first time that an entire family has received this high recognition from the Catholic Church.
The beatification decided by Pope Francis was celebrated in Markowa, the hometown of the new beatified, where the Vatican envoy, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, also traveled.
“I hope that this Polish family, which was a ray of light in the darkness of the Second World War, will be an example for everyone of the urge to do good and to serve those in need,” Francis said this Sunday.
Thousands of people attended the ceremony, including the president and prime minister of Poland, as well as priests, the country’s major rabbi and an Israeli delegation.
Tragedy struck on March 24, 1944 in southeastern Poland when German police murdered Jozef Ulma and his wife Wiktoria, who was seven months pregnant and gave birth during the massacre.
Their other children, Stanislawa, Barbara, Wladyslav, Franciszek, Antoni and Maria, aged between two and eight, were also executed, along with eight Jews whom the family hid in the attic of the house.
The persecuted Jews were Shaul Goldman and his five children, his fiveyearold granddaughter and Golda Grünfeld.
The Nazis fired from the basement into the attic and the victims’ blood flowed from the ceiling and fell onto a photo of two Jewish women lying on a table.
Currently, this image is “a relic” of martyrdom, according to the Vatican.
The massacre ended “a story of love and friendship,” said Italian journalist Manuella Tulli, who wrote a book about the family with Polish historian and priest Pawel RytelAndrianik.
“When the Jews asked for help, they opened their doors. They lived together for a year and a half, cooking and eating together,” Tulli told AFP.
Jozef Ulma was not only a farmer, but also loved photography. Some of her photos survived the massacre and show family life through everyday scenes.
“We see the children running barefoot on the grass, doing their homework, the mother hanging up the clothes,” Tulli said.
The families were reported by a Polish police officer. After the execution, another 24 Jews in Markowa were murdered by their neighbors.
This is the first time that the Church of Rome has beatified an entire family. In an unusual gesture, Ulma’s baby was included, who had not been baptized, a requirement for receiving this award.
The child was beatified under the concept of “baptism of blood” because he was born “at the moment of his mother’s martyrdom,” according to the Vatican’s canonization department.
The Catholic Church requires that a believer must have performed a miracle to be beatified, but martyrs are exempt.
Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma were recognized by Israel in 1995 as members of the Righteous Among the Nations, an honor given to nonJews who helped save Jews from extermination at the hands of the Nazis.
In Markowa there is a museum dedicated to the family. Since 2018, Poland has set March 24, the day of the massacre, as a day of remembrance for the Poles who saved Jews during the German occupation.