The Vatican on Sunday beatified an entire family for the first time to honor it for giving shelter to Jews during World War II while Poland was under German occupation.
Jozef Ulma, 44, his pregnant wife Wiktoria, 31, and their children, all under 8 years of age, were killed by German police on March 24, 1944, after being betrayed to Nazi authorities for sheltering eight Jewish people in their attic. The eight Jews were also killed.
After the massacre at the Ulmas’ farmhouse, 24 Jews in the family’s hometown of Markowa in southeast Poland were murdered by their Polish neighbors.
