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Beatification of the Ulma Family: Honoring Heroes of WWII

In Markowa on Sunday, September 10th, the Ulma Family will be beatified. Throughout Poland, ceremonies will take place to commemorate the family that paid the ultimate price for aiding Jews during World War II. For the first time in the history of the Church, an entire family, including an unborn child, will be elevated to the status of blessed.

On Wednesday, September 5th, at 19:10, Telewizja Republika invites you to the third episode of a special series of discussions about the Ulma Family. Adrian Stankowski’s guest on the program “Dziennikarski Poker” will be Dr. Mateusz Szpytma, a Polish historian and museum curator, and the Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance.

During World War II, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma hid two Jewish families in their home in Markowa, Podkarpacie. The Nazis learned of this through an informant, and on March 24, 1944, they murdered the Jewish refugees, the Ulma family, and their six young children. At that time, Mrs. Wiktoria was in the ninth month of her pregnancy.

Dr. Mateusz Szpytma, the historian and Vice President of the Institute of National Remembrance, whose grandmother was Mrs. Wiktoria’s sister, recalled in a Facebook post that labor began during the atrocity or after the woman’s body was thrown into a pit. “It was deemed that the baptism occurred, but not with water, but with blood,” Dr. Mateusz Szpytma noted.

In 1995, Wiktoria and Józef Ulma were posthumously honored with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

In 2016, the Museum of Poles Saving Jews during World War II, named after the Ulma Family, was opened in Markowa. The inauguration ceremony was attended by President Andrzej Duda and representatives of the Polish Episcopal Conference, including Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki.

Since March 24, 2018 – the anniversary of the brutal deaths of the Ulma family – Poland has observed the National Day of Remembrance for Poles who saved Jews under German occupation.

On December 17, 2022, Pope Francis approved the decree of martyrdom for the Ulma Family.

During the beatification ceremony, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will represent the Holy Father. He will be joined by nearly 1000 priests and 80 cardinals and bishops from Poland and abroad. Also in attendance will be Michael Joseph Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland.

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