SW News: Believers in Poland are eagerly awaiting the beatification of a couple and their six children who were murdered by the Nazis for sheltering Jews during World War II. Venerable Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and their children will be beatified on September 10. It is for the first time that an entire family is going to be brought one step closer to sainthood. Another specialty will be the beatification of an unborn child as Wiktoria was pregnant when she was killed.

It was in 1942 that the Ulma family gave shelter to eight Jews in the attic of their residence in Markowa. It was a time when Jews were being hunted down by the Nazi police. With Poland under the grip of Nazi Germany, any form of help provided to Jews invited the death sentence.

The Ulma family displayed exemplary faith through common prayer, shared faith education and Bible readings. By becoming a “domestic Church” as described by Pope St John Paul II, they showed genuine Christian charity to the most vulnerable in society.

In 1944, a policeman discovered the fact that the family was housing eight Jews and on March 24 of the same year, German SS officers raided the Ulma residence. They first killed Jozef and Wiktoria, who was carrying at that time. They then went on to murder their children: Stanislawa (8), Barbara (6), Wladyslaw (5), Franciszek (4), Antoni (3) and one-and-a-half-year-old Maria.

It was in 2003 that the Archdiocese of Przemysl started the beatification process for the entire family. On December 17 last year, the Holy Father ratified the decree regarding the martyrdom of the Ulma family and paved the way for their beatification.

Ahead of the ceremony, the sidewalk near the Presidential Palace in Warsaw has four staggered columns and each one has a piece of the photograph of the Ulma family. The other side narrates their tale of heroism displayed during the dark days of World War II.