The story of the Ulma family, beatified on September 10, 2023 in their home village of Markowa, is resonating more and more outside Poland. A small but informative and strongly memorable book has been published on the British publishing market, titled “The book of the year”. “No Greater Love. The Martyrdom of the Ulma Family” by Jean Olwen Maynard. The publication takes a closer look not only at the history of the blessed family and the martyrdom of its nine members, but also at the historical background of this tragic event, which occurred on March 24, 1944. For their sacrifice, the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem posthumously awarded Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma the honorary title of Righteous Among the Nations.

The publisher of No Greater Love, the Catholic Truth Society, in cooperation with the Polish Cultural Institute in London, prepared an evening of thanksgiving on September 13 in connection with the beatification of the Ulma family, who were executed for hiding eight Jews in their home. The ceremony, prepared at the Brompton Oratory, was opened by Rev. Michael Lang, who emphasized that “the beatification Mass of the Ulm Family in Markowa was a historic and unique event for the Catholic Church, because it was the first time in the history of canonization that the martyrdom of an entire family was recognized.” He also recalled the very telling fact that in the Bible found in their home, the passage about the merciful Samaritan was underlined in red, and that the Ulmas’ nameless yet unborn child was baptized with the martyr’s blood.

History, motivations and deeds

The evening’s program included speeches by Bartosz Wisniewski, director of the Polish Cultural Institute in London, and Arkadiusz Mularczyk, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A brief presentation of the history of the blessed family was given by Pierpaolo Finaldi – chief executive officer of the Catholic Truth Society publishing house, who also mentioned his Polish roots, followed by excerpts from a documentary film about the Ulm Family Museum in Markowa, prepared by the Polish Cultural Institute.

The official part of the evening ended with a speech by Victoria Seed, editor of CTS Publishing, who presented the book “No Greater Love”. This publication contains not only a summary of the tragic history of Poland at that time from the perspective of the events in the village of Markowa, but is also an attempt to look at the psyche and motivations that led to acts across the moral spectrum at the time. Against this backdrop, we also learn about very interesting aspects of the Ulm family’s life, such as the fact that Victoria and Jozef met in a theater circle, while preparing for a Christmas play. Besides, Joseph was an active socialite, but he was also very interested in (and professionally engaged in) photography, hence the surviving family photos. He had a knack for growing not only fruit trees and vegetables, but also established a bee and silk farm and installed electricity in his home himself. He and Victoria also boasted a collection of books that they were happy to lend to others.

A message of love

The author of No Greater Love, Jean Olwen Maynard, gave a brief statement to the Veritas Foundation at a London evening: “I knew the story of the Ulm family long before I was asked by the CTS publishing house to write it down. I don’t remember when I first heard about it, but there was a time when I was looking for information about married couples or families who had been beatified or were about to be beatified. I was preparing a list of them. I also talked to CTS about a possible book on the subject. I think that’s when I came across this story. I thought – this is wonderful, and as soon as I heard something about it on the news, I was very interested in it.”

Although the author admitted that she did not have the opportunity to stay in Poland to work on her book, she reached very valuable materials that allowed her to gather as many details as possible about the Ulma family and other families from Markowa of that tragic time. “I knew that preparations for the beatification were underway, and when the CTS publishing house approached me to ask if I would be willing to write a book about this family, I said yes, very much so! I started my work and found the publication by Mateusz Szpytma, available in English, particularly helpful: “The Risk of Survival: The Rescue of Jews by the Poles and the Tragic Consequences for the Ulma family from Markowa.”

Asked about the potential resonance of her book in the world, Jean Olwen Maynard said: “I would very much like this book to reach a wide audience, because there is a message of love and respect for every human being, even the weakest. The world is run by rich people who think that most people don’t count, because only those who do count are the ones who help them get richer further. I would like to see a different view of reality come to people – that all people matter and not because they are funny, intelligent or whatever, but because human beings are made in the likeness of God.”

Agnieszka Okońska