Catholic Church beatifies Polish family for sheltering Jews

Poland: The Catholic Church apologized on Sunday for the remains of a Polish family consisting of 9, including a newborn baby who perished at the infliction of Nazi Germans during World War Two for defending an entire Jewish family during the Holocaust.

The beatification ceremony of Jozef, Wiktoria Ulma, and their seven children occurred in the southern Polish town of Markowa, where they perished in March 1944 by the German army police.

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro read a letter from Pope Francis during a service attended by the Polish president, prime minister, and others.

“We authorise that from now on the venerable Servants of God, Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma, spouses and their seven children… (who) fearlessly sacrificed their lives for the sake of love for their brothers and welcomed into their home those who suffered persecution, be given the title of blessed,” the Pope wrote.

After the beatification ceremony announcement, a picture depicting the entire family was displayed, and a shrine with their remains was placed in the stage’s center.

Beatification is the final step before sainthood within the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican media have reported that this was the first time all families have been honored.

In his address during a visit to The Vatican, Pope Francis described the Polish family as the “ray of light” in the dark that was World War Two and said they could serve as an example for others to emulate.

He commenced a round of applause from people gathered at St Peter’s Square to hear his Angelus message.

Polish President Andrzej Duda praised the Catholic church for its beatification in the country’s name.

“Thank you for showing the historical truth about that time, about the fate of Poles and Jews on this land under German occupation, who all wanted to survive and yet did not shrink from such ultimate acts of brotherhood and mercy,” the man said.

HOLOCAUST

Three million Jews living in pre-war Poland were executed by the Nazi German Holocaust, accounting for roughly half of the Jews who were killed in World War Two.

Jews worldwide were executed in death camps constructed and run by Germans in occupied Poland, Europe’s largest Jewish community of the time. These included Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor.

The Ulma family is at the center of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government’s efforts to celebrate the strength of the hundreds of thousands of Poles who wanted to assist Jews in getting out of the Holocaust.

The policy has led to criticism from Jewish groups and some historians for minimizing the contribution of those who fought alongside the Germans. PiS declares that commemorating those who harmed the country.

Within the area of Markowa, Some historians have reported witness accounts that reveal that residents took advantage of Jewish houses, denigrated Jews to Germans, and even murdered them.

“How we discuss the history of this region is a wasted opportunity. If we showed what some Poles did then, we would be showing the heroism of the Ulmas to its full extent,” said Dariusz Libionka, historian from the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The Polish Institute for National Remembrance (IPN) has stated that the research done by Libionka and co-historian Jan Grabowski contains factual errors and says that the Museum in Markowa has concealed or omitted information regarding the Olish role in the death of Jews.

Many Poles risked their lives to defend Jewish neighbors during the war. But studies published after the collapse of communism in 1989 proved that thousands of Poles also killed Jews and blasted the ones who kept them hidden from those who hid them from Nazi occupiers, reversing the narrative of nationalists that Poland was a victim of its own.

“We have an obligation to remember the righteous and have them as role models of who we want to be. And have to remember the collaborators because they are also role models of who we don’t want to be,” said Michael Schudrich, the chief rabbi in Poland.

(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Sharon Singleton)