Wiktoria Ulma lived in the village of Markowa in the southeast of Poland. She married Józef Ulma in 1935. Their first daughter Stanisława was born in 1936. She was followed by five more children: Barbara (born 1937), Władysław (born 1938), Franciszek (born 1940), Antoni (born 1941), and Maria (born 1942).
In 1939 German troops occupied Markowa and oppressed the local population. Wiktoria Ulma witnessed the persecution and murder of Jews.
In the fall of 1942, the Jewish Goldman family asked the Ulmas to hide them. Although helping Jews was punishable by death in Poland, Wiktoria and Józef Ulma took in a total of eight Jewish people and hid them in their attic.
So as to feed that many people, Wiktoria Ulma bought large amounts of supplies, which attracted attention. The Ulmas were denounced. German and Polish police officers arrived at the Ulmas’ home on March 24, 1944. They found the hidden Jews and shot them dead, some of them while they were sleeping. The pregnant Wiktoria, her husband, and their six children were also shot dead shortly afterward.
Yad Vashem honored Wiktoria Ulma posthumously as Righteous Among the Nations in 1995.
Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, Markowa, 1940s. Source: Privatbesitz/Private, Rodzina Ulmów z Markowej / portal IPN
Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, Markowa, 1936. Source: Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Righteous Among Nations Archive
Wiktoria Ulma helping her daughter Stanisława with schoolwork, Markowa, 1940s. Source: Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Righteous Among Nations Archive, M.31.2/6788
Wiktoria Ulma and her six children, left to right: Władysław, Stanisława with Maria, Franciszek (sitting on the sheep), Wiktoria, Barbara, and Antoni, Markowa, 1943. Source: Muzeum Polaków ratujących Żydów podczas II wojny światowej im. Rodziny Ulmów w Markowej
