The Centre for the Development of Education (ORE), in cooperation with the Museum of Poles Saving Jews during World War II in Markowa, has prepared a special educational package for teachers and students entitled “The Ulma Family” that is available to download on the Centre’s website.
The package prepared on the occasion of the beatification of the Ulma family consists of five educational films: The Situation of the Jewish Population in the General Government; Markovians Rescuing Jews; The Ethical Dimension of Rescuing Jews; The Shylar’s Cottage; and The History of Markowa from its Location to the Early 20th Century.
The films are available on the website of the Centre for the Development of Education and on YouTube. They are complemented by sample lesson plans for primary and secondary school students.
“The proposed material can be used as part of lessons in history, history and the present, the Polish language and as part of interest clubs. We encourage everyone to use the educational package and disseminate knowledge about the heroism of the Ulma Family”, says ORE.
The beatification of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children, murdered by the Germans on 24 March 1944 for saving Jews, took place on 10 September in Markowa, the place of their death.
At the time, 16 people were killed in the massacre. First the Jews – the two daughters of the Ulmas’ neighbours, the Goldmans: Golda (Genia) Gruenfeld and Lea Didner, together with their young child, and the three Szall brothers, their 70-year-old father Saul and another man from the Szall family. Then, in front of the Ulma children, Józef and his wife Wiktoria, who was seven months pregnant, were shot. Finally, the children were killed – eight-year-old Stanisława, six-year-old Barbara, five-year-old Władysław, four-year-old Franciszek, three-year-old Antoni and one-and-a-half-year-old Maria.
During World War II, Jews were hidden in Markowa by several families, but the largest group was taken in by the Ulmas, who in 1995 were honoured by the Israeli Yad Vashem Institute with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński