A Polish couple and their seven children who were murdered by the Nazis during World War II for hiding Jews will be beautified today.
For the first time, the entire family will receive one of the Catholic Church’s highest honours, reports RTE.
More than 30,000 people, including 80 bishops, 1,000 priests, the country’s chief rabbi and an Israeli delegation, attended the event, which took place in Markowa’s hometown in southeastern Poland.
It was there that on March 24, 1944, German police, acting on information received, shot Josef Ulma and his wife Victoria, who was seven months pregnant and gave birth partially during the execution.
Their children – Stanisława, Barbara, Wadiław, Franciszek, Antony and Maria – aged two to eight, were killed in their home, as well as eight Jews the family hid in the attic.
Eight people – including Saul Goldman and his daughter Leah Didner and her five-year-old daughter – were also shot before the farm was looted and set on fire.
According to Italian journalist Manuela Tulli, who teamed up with Polish historian and priest Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, the massacre was “a story of love and friendship”.
“When the Jews asked for help, they opened their doors. They lived together for a year and a half, cooking and eating together”, Ms Tulli said, reports RTE.
Josef Ulma was both a keen photographer and farmer, and the photographs he saved show family life through simple, everyday scenes.
“We see the children running barefoot in the grass, doing their homework, the mother hanging out the washing,” Ms Tulli said, reports RTE.
The families were denounced by members of the Polish police.
After the execution, 24 Jews of Markowa were killed by their Polish neighbours.
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