In late 1942, farmers Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and their six young children hid eight Jews in their farmhouse in the village of Markowa. They were betrayed by a Polish policeman and executed along with the Jewish people they were hiding. Decades later, the family were beatified by the Catholic church in a ceremony on September 10, 2023 in the town of Markowa.
Fundamentally, I have no problem with the Polish nation and the Catholic church celebrating the deeds of the Ulma family. And I am pleased that this national memorial happens to be in my ancestral town of Markowa. However, I and others are very troubled by vital omissions by the museum curators and the Catholic church resulting in a distorted impression that the Ulma’s act of heroism was commonplace in Poland, rather than the rare act that is was.
The hard fact is that the Ulma family’s humanity and heroism was a tiny exception in the otherwise hostile state of Polish-Jewish relations before, during and after WWII. Most Polish citizens did not save their Jewish neighbors; far from it. Unassailable historical documentation and first-hand testimony support the fact that many Poles, poisoned by centuries of anti-Semitism, participated actively in the expulsions, betrayals and murders. Many other stood by passively and watched the horror unfold.
I have to confront this distortion of facts in memory of my father, grandparents and aunts who cowered in fear for 2-years worried that their Polish neighbors would turn them in.
The recent right-wing Polish government (“Law and Justice Party”) attempted to use the story of the Ulma’s failed rescue of Jews to bolster national pride by downplaying the sad truths about the behaviour of the vast majority of Polish citizens towards their Jewish neighbors. The critical context is missing or diluted in the Ulma Family museum displays, the beatification ceremony and the official communications of the Polish authorities. The authorities are trying to use the exception of the Ulma family to obscure the tragic general case.
As it is said: One cannot fully appreciate the redeeming glow of a candle unless one first understands the darkness that it dispels.
Polish TV News Story About The Ulma Museum
A 2023 news story about the Ulmas and the museum in Markowa that honours them. Note the focus of the museum and government officials on the heroic acts of the Ulmas with little or no reference to the true state of Polish-Jewish relations before, during and after the war.
Letter of Invitation to 2023 Beatification Ceremony
This is a letter Ron Riesenbach received from Polish cultural authorities regarding a religious ceremony they were planning in Joe Riesenbach birth village — Markowa in September, 2023. The ceremony was to honor the Ulma Family, a family of gentiles who hid Jews during the war, but were betrayed and murdered, along with the Jews they were hiding.
This is the letter of response that I sent back declining to attend and providing my reasons. I am indebted to Professor Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa for helping me decide whether or not to attend by providing me with important historical context and a snap-shot of the revisionist historical narrative currently being promoted by the Polish Government.
Riesenbach.com 