National Day of Remembrance of Poles Saving Jews. President Duda: Thousands of Poles followed this noble imperative of the heart

“On March 24, 1944, in the morning, in the village of Markowa, near Łańcut, German gendarmes murdered Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, their seven children, and the Jews they were hiding: Gołda Grunfeld, Lea Didner with her daughter, and Saul Goldman and his four sons. Perpetrators “They committed this crime in an inhumanly cruel way. People died whose only ‘fault’ was that they were Jews. Also Poles died – their hosts and guardians, ordinary, poor farmers who towards their Jewish fellow citizens fulfilled the Christian order to help their neighbor in need.” – wrote the president Andrzej Duda.

As the president stressed, “thousands of Poles followed this noble command of the heart”. “Many paid for it with their own lives, and often also with their relatives’ lives. They paid for showing mercy with torture, being sent to a concentration camp, severe beatings, loss of their livelihoods,” the head of state indicated.

The president added that “others were forced into slave labor or into hiding.” “More than seven thousand of our compatriots, including Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, were honored with the title of Righteous Among the Nations” – he stressed.

“The sufferings of these silent, sometimes forgotten heroes demand a worthy, lasting commemoration – and the crimes of the Nazis demand an unequivocal moral condemnation and, in its wake, fair compensation,” Andrzej Duda pointed out.

Polish Ambassador in Germany Dariusz Pawłoś, opening a ceremonial concert at the Pestalozzistrasse synagogue in Berlin on Thursday evening, said that “on this occasion, we pay tribute to Poles, silent heroes and heroes of everyday life who saved Jews during World War II.”

– We pay tribute to their courage and solidarity with Jewish victims. But we also remember all the heroes who sacrificed and lost their lives fighting for freedom during the German occupation of Poland during World War II, said the Polish ambassador.

Pawłoś also emphasized that “this year we remember in a special way the Jews who rose up in the Warsaw Ghetto on April 19, 1943, and we feel a deep bond with all the insurgents who fiercely fought against the German occupier for several weeks.”

March 24 is the National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews Under German Occupation, adopted by the Parliament on the initiative of President Andrzej Duda.

The main celebrations will take place on Friday in Markowa (Podkarpackie Province). They will be attended by the president, who will inaugurate the activities of the Committee of Celebrations Accompanying the Beatification of the Ulma Family. President at At 11.45 he will also lay a wreath at the monument to the victims of the Holocaust and the nameless “Rescuers”.

At noon on the “Wall of Remembrance” at the Museum of Poles Saving Jews during World War II. The Ulma family in Markowa will unveil five plaques dedicated to the memory of people who saved Jews: Stefania and Antoni Wawrzaszko, Maria and Szymon Fołt and their children: Aleksandra, Bronisława, Antoni and Władysław, Maria and Ludwik Kilian, Karolina and Jan Kilian and Piotr Kapłon.

However, at At 13.00, wreaths will be laid in front of the Ulma monument by delegations of government and local government authorities and social organizations. Half an hour later, at the Museum of Poles Saving Jews during World War II, lectures will be given by the postulator of the beatification process of the Ulma Family, Fr. Witold Burda, the president of the Markowa Commune Council Maria Ryznar-Fołta and the vice-president of the Institute of National Remembrance dr Mateusz Szpytma.

At. 16 at the cemetery, a prayer and laying flowers on the grave of the Ulma family and the graves of “Rescuers” from Markowa: Dorota and Antoni Szylar and their daughter Zofia Broda, Helena and Jan Cwynar, Katarzyna and Michał Cwynar, Weronika and Jan Przybylak, Maria and Michał Bar and their daughter Veronica.

After visiting the cemetery, young people from the primary school will perform in the church. Servants of God of the Ulma Family in Markowa with a program of words and music. And at 17 Holy Mass in the intention of Poles who saved Jews during World War II and in thanksgiving for the completed beatification process of the Ulma family, Fr. Archbishop Adam Szal. The Friday festivities will conclude at 19th concert at the Podkarpacka Philharmonic in Rzeszów.

The Warsaw celebrations of the National Day of Remembrance of Poles Saving Jews will start at 11.15 laying flowers at the Square of the Wolski Family, in the place where Poles: Mieczysław Wolski and his nephew Janusz were murdered by the Germans for sheltering Jews.