Poles faced death penalty for helping Jews

Established in 2018 by the Polish Parliament, the National Day of Remembrance for Poles Who Rescued Jews Under German Occupation honours all Polish citizens, regardless of ethnicity, who helped Jews facing genocidal extermination by the German occupiers during the Second World War.

The date commemorates the 1944 murder of the Ulma family by Germans in Markowa, Poland, for sheltering eight Jews in their home.

“During the German occupation, likely towards the end of 1942, the Ulmas, despite poverty and the threat of death, gave shelter to eight Jews: Saul Goldman and his four sons (known in Łańcut as the Szalls), along with two daughters and a granddaughter of Chaim Goldman from Markowa—Lea (Layce) Didner with her daughter (name unknown), and Genia (Golda) Grünfeld. It is believed that it was Włodzimierz Leś, a ‘blue’ policeman from Łańcut, who reported that the Ulmas were hiding Jews to the Germans. On the morning of March 24, 1944, five German gendarmes and several blue policemen arrived at the Ulma home, led by Lieutenant Eilert Dieken. The Jews were executed first, followed by Józef and Wiktoria Ulma—who was seven months pregnant. Dieken then ordered the murder of the Ulma children. Approximately twenty Jews hiding in Markowa survived,” according to the Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews in World War II.

1,239 names

On March 24, 2025, President Andrzej Duda attended a ceremony unveiling new names on memorial plaques honouring Poles murdered for rescuing Jews under German occupation. These plaques are housed in the Chapel of Remembrance at the Sanctuary of Our Lady, Star of the New Evangelisation, and St. John Paul II in Toruń. The newly added names included Kornelia Mazurkiewicz, Wojciech Lech, and Tadeusz Paziuk.

Today, the sanctuary walls display the names of 1,239 Poles who died while helping others.

“This is a source of great national pride—that there were people who were not afraid. People who fully grasped the existential threat—not only to themselves, but also to their loved ones—yet were prepared to help, even to sacrifice their lives for their friends, neighbours, for decency and goodness, for human dignity,” the President stated during his address.

President Duda reiterated that during the German occupation, helping Jews was punishable by death—extending not only to the person directly involved but also to their loved ones. It is estimated that despite this grave danger, approximately one million Poles were involved in helping Jews. “Many Jews were saved by Poles who hid them, provided them with food, supported them, gave them shelter, and ultimately saved their lives,” the President noted.

“This was unique on the scale of Nazi-occupied Europe, it was unlike anything seen in Western Europe. And this aspect of history remains unfamiliar to many in the West. They do not realise that here, in Central Europe, on German-occupied Polish lands, helping Jews was a capital offence,” reminded the President, stressing that the penalty applied not only to “those who provided help directly, but also their loved ones, the entire family.”

The President reminded that during the German occupation, “the vast majority of Polish Jews were murdered by Nazi occupiers in concentration camps and other execution sites.” He further emphasised: “But also, Jews from various European countries were brought to the concentration and extermination camps built by them (the occupiers) on occupied Polish lands and murdered there.”

“In total, approximately six million Jews from various countries were killed, including — which needs to be highlighted — three million Polish citizens of Jewish descent,” The President said. He described this as “something unimaginable—something difficult for people born after the war, who know these events as history, to understand or even imagine how it could have happened and what mindset led people to commit such horrific crimes, especially those who planned them.”

President Duda also noted that 2025 marks the 81st anniversary of the Ulma family’s massacre by the German gendarmerie. “Despite fear and danger, despite their modest means, they shared their bread with eight Jewish neighbours, offering them shelter on their farm in Markowa, in the Podkarpacie region, just like many other families in that village,” the President stressed.

Bosmat Baruch, Israel’s acting deputy ambassador to Poland, stated during the ceremony that those honoured were people who “had the courage to stand up against evil in a time of profound darkness.” She further remarked — “Poles and Jews share a history stretching back 1,000 years. For centuries, we lived side by side—building, creating, and shaping both Polish culture and Jewish heritage. (…) Contemporary Israel has strong Polish roots, and today’s Poland is deeply connected to the history and contributions of Polish Jews, ”—said Bosmat Baruch.

She stressed the importance of initiatives such as the establishment of the chapel and memorial park in Toruń, which serve to ensure that the tragedy of the Second World War is never forgotten.

Inside the chapel, directly opposite the entrance, stands an altar symbolising the sacrifice made by Poles to saved others, accompanied by a statue of the Virgin Mary. Behind the altar are granite plaques inscribed with the names of Poles who rescued Jews, as well as a quote from the Gospel of John: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Adjacent to the sanctuary is a memorial park displaying the names of 33,000 Poles who saved Jews and survived the Second World War.

On the same day, President Duda visited Ciepielów, a town situated 140 kilometres to the south of Warsaw, where he joined local residents in unveiling a monument honouring Poles who rescued Jews during the Second World War. The monument serves as a reminder of the events that unfolded in December 1942.

Specifically, it pays tribute to four Polish families—the Kowalski, Obuchiewicz, Kosior, and Skoczylas families—a total of 30 people, including 19 children, who were murdered by the Germans on 6 December 1942, in the villages of Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka for hiding Jews who were being persecuted by the German occupiers.

To learn more about the Ulma family visit:

The Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews in World War II