On 23 March 2025 the Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Mateusz Szpytma Ph.D., paid tribute to the residents of Markowa who were murdered by the Germans for helping Jews.
On 24 March 1944, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, who was 9 months pregnant at the time, died at the hands of German executioners. The Germans also murdered other members of the family: 8-year-old Stanisława, 6-year-old Barbara, 5-year-old Władysław, 4-year-old Franciszek, 3-year-old Antoni. The youngest victim, Maria, was just 1.5 years old.
On the eve of the National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under German Occupation Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Mateusz Szpytma Ph.D., paid tribute to the Samaritans of Markowa by lighting candles at the local cemetery, on the graves of Markowians who helped their Jewish neighbors despite the danger.
A Holy Mass honouring Poles rescuing Jews was celebrated at the church in Markowa. After the service, the Deputy President of the IPN laid flowers at the sarcophagus with the relics of the blessed Ulma Family.
Then, at the War Cemetery of the Victims of Hitlerism in Jagiello-Niechciałki, Mateusz Szpytma lit candles in front of the monument commemorating the Jews murdered by the Germans in Markowa.
The monument is dedicated to the memory of the Jews, citizens of the Second Polish Republic murdered in Markowa in the years 1942-1944 by the Germans, exhumed from the places of execution and transferred to this cemetery in 1947. The Szal and Goldman families, murdered with the Ulma Family, rest here. The monument in the shape of a matzeva, placed on the grave of the murdered Jews, was prepared by the Institute of National Remembrance.
The main celebration of the National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under German occupation will take place on 24 March 2025 in Markowa. The Institute of National Remembrance will be represented by Advisor to the President Jan Jozef Kasprzyk and Director of the IPN Branch Office in Rzeszów Dariusz Iwaneczko Ph.D.