The Polish Institute in Bucharest in partnership with the Bucharest Municipality Museum, cordially invite you to attend the exhibition “The Samarians of Markowa” open between March 22nd and April 17th 2016 at the Suțu Palace.
The exhibition opening will take place on Tuesday, March 22nd, 19:00, at the Suțu Palace.
The exhibition depicts the tragic fate of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma who, during the Second World War, succeded in saving Jews from certain death. Their actions led to retaliations of German occupants. The entire Ulma family, the married couple together with their six children, was shot.
During the Second World War, the Germans killed aproximately 90% of the Polish community of Jews, counting 3 500 000 people. According to estimations, only about 40 000 – 120 000 Jews survived Nazi occupation, hiding among partizans, the Polish and in forests.
In 1942, Polish farmworkers Józef and Wiktoria Ulma hid eight Jews inside their farm, knowing that such an act was punished by death by the Nazis. Their heroic act was not isolated. According to historians, between 300 000 and 1 000 000 Polish citizens were involved in various acts of helping the Jews.
On the 24th of March 1944, after being informed on, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma together with their six children aged a year and half to eight years old, as well as the Jewish families hiding at their farm, were shot by the Nazis. At the time of the massacre, Wiktoria was nine months preganant. Despite this tragedy and the German terror that ruled in occupied Poland, 21 Jews survived until the end of the war hiding in the houses of Markowa farmers. This extraordinary history is presented in the exhibition at the Suțu Palace.
No one knows the exact number of Polish citizens killed by the Germans for helping Jews during the Second World War: many of the victims remained anonymous and the documents were not fully preserved, but Historians estimate between 2 500 and 50 000 victims.
Up to this day the Polish are the largest ethnic group awarded the “Righteous Among People” by the Yad Veshem Institue in Jerusalem, an award given for disinterested rescuing of Jews during the Second World War (6620 people, meaning 26% of all awarded people). In 1995 this title was awarded posthumously to Józef and Wiktoria Ulma.
On March 17th 2016, a museum bearing the name of the Ulma family – „The Museum Dedicated to the Polish People who Saved Jews During the Second World War” – was founded at Markowa, the town where this exceptionally brave family was from. This is the context of “The Samarians of Markowa” exhibition in Bucharest, whose Romanian version was provided by the Polish Institute in Bucharest together with the Bucharest Municipality Museum.
More information about the event: www.culturapoloneza.ro
“The Samarians of Markowa” exhibition, March 22nd – April 17th 2016, the Suțu Palace – the Bucharest Municipality Museum (2 Ion C. Brătianu Street).