MARTYRED AND BLESSED TOGETHER, THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE ULMA FAMILY, Fr. Pawel Rytel-Andrianik & Manuela Tulli, 2023.
To say the least this book is intense! You'll definitely reflect upon it after you've read it. Fr. Rytel-Andrianik is a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He's also editor of the Polish section of Vatican Radio/News. Manuela Tulli is an Italian journalist covering Vatican and religious topics for the Ansa news agency. The author of books, she's also a blogger.
The book's narrative flows beautifully and it is well documented with copious footnotes and bibliography. Included in the bibliography are websites. Unfortunately for me a lot of it is in Polish.
One of the most interesting topics covered is that of the child in the womb who was killed. That child is considered a martyr and beatified. The book delves into that topic and also covers the children who were very young. They are also considered martyr and beatified by the church. The topic of "martyrdom" is also covered in clear terms. Biographies of the Ulma family and the Jewish victims are also covered.
The neighbors knew the Ulmas were harboring refugees. Even though the house was 200 or so meters from the main road (650+ feet) they saw lots of activity. Food usually gave one away. Large amounts of food were purchased. But it was not neighbors who betrayed the Ulmas. It was a local policeman who was entrusted with one of the Jewish person's property who got greedy.
Chapter4, "The Massacre" is like a deep-sleep, very quick, very disturbing nightmare. All the murders were quickly done within minutes. Silently, no talking, no comments, no shouts, no orders, just gunshots. Only the children were left to be dealt with. The murderers robbed everything from the house and hauled it away in carts. Pillows, mattresses, beds, cups, plates, soup dishes, pots, pans and even tanned leather pieces that Jozef Ulma had been working on. Then the crew got drunk celebrating with vodka. Unbelievable!
The betrayer got his just due. What disturbs me is the officer in charge. He's the one who ordered the children to be killed. He told the villagers he was doing them a favor because no one would have to worry about orphans. He died respectfully at his home. When they went looking for him in 1960, he was already dead. What a story!
I highly recommend reading this.