Today marks the National Day of Remembrance for Poles Rescuing Jews under German occupation. “Eighty-one years ago, German oppressors murdered the Ulma family from Markowa for sheltering a Jewish family,” wrote historian and former head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression, Jan Kasprzyk, on X.
Narodowy Dzień Pamięci Polaków Ratujących Żydów pod okupacją niemiecką. 81 lat temu niemieccy oprawcy zamordowali Rodzinę Ulmów z Markowej za ukrywanie rodziny żydowskiej. #Pamiętamy pic.twitter.com/7rW01XKkxq
— Jan Kasprzyk (@JanKasprzyk) March 24, 2025
Honoring Polish Heroes
This day was established in 2018 to pay tribute to Polish citizens—heroes who, with extraordinary courage, compassion, and solidarity, remained faithful to the highest ethical values, the Christian commandment of mercy, and the ethos of a sovereign Poland. They risked everything to save their Jewish neighbors from the Holocaust, which was planned and carried out by the German occupiers.
The holiday serves as an expression of reverence for all Poles who, showing mercy and compassion, aided Jews systematically murdered by the German perpetrators. Any form of assistance given to Jews in hiding was an act of immense heroism, considering that in occupied Poland, such actions were punishable by death.
Murdered for Helping Jews
Poles who rescued Jews were, are, and should remain an example and an inspiration. This legacy extends beyond the nearly 7,000 individuals officially recognized by Israel’s Yad Vashem Institute; it also includes thousands of anonymous or unrecognized heroes whose names, after decades, are now impossible to determine.
One of the most poignant symbols of German crimes committed in retaliation for aiding Jews is the tragic fate of the Ulma family from Markowa, in the Podkarpacie region. On March 24, 1944, German forces brutally executed Józef Ulma, his pregnant wife Wiktoria, their six young children, and the eight Jewish individuals they had been sheltering—members of the Didner, Grünfeld, and Goldman families.