Markowa is a Polish village near Łańcut. During World War II many families hid their Jewish neighbours to help them survive the Holocaust. It is now estimated that at least 17 Jews survived the war in Markowa. ŁaÅ„cut is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,000 inhabitants (1998). ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ...

Seven members of the Weltz family were hidden in the barn of Dorota and Antoni Szylar. Jakub Einhorn's family was hidden by Jan and Weronika Przybylak and Jakub Lorbenfeld and his family were hidden by Michal Bar.

Two girls from the Riesenbach family were initially hidden by Stanislaw Kielar, before joining the other 3 family members in the attic of Julia and Józef Bar.

Tragedy

On March 24, 1944 a patrol of German police came to the house of Wiktoria and Józef Ulm, where they found 8 Jews belonging to the Szall and Goldman families. At first the Germans executed all the Jews. Then they shot the pregnant Wiktoria and her husband. When the six children begun to scream at the sight of their parents' bodies, Jozef Kokott, a German policeman (Volksdeutsche from Sudetenland) killed them. March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in Leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) is a historical term which arose in the early 20th century to apply for Germans living outside of the German Empire. ... Sudetenland (-German; Czech: Sudety) was the name used from 1938–45 for the region inhabited mostly by Sudeten Germans (German: Sudetendeutsche, Czech: SudetÅ¡tí NÄ›mci) in the various places of Bohemia, Moravia, and parts of Silesia. ...

On the 60th anniversary of this tragedy, a memorial was erected in memory of the family.

External link

• Geographical location
• Story of the survival of the Riesenbach family