Saturday marks the first time Poland observes a new memorial day to honour those who helped Jews during World War II.

Film screenings, exhibitions and a host of other events are being held across the country as part of the initiative, which was launched by President Andrzej Duda.

“It is a great day for Polish history, for honouring our national heroes,” said Mateusz Szpytma, vice-director of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).

On March 24, 1944, German military police shot members of the Polish family of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, who were sheltering Jews in the village of Markowa in the southeast of the country.

According to authorities, the new memorial day is designed to be a tribute to Poles who saved their Jewish neighbours from extermination at the hands of Poland’s Nazi German occupiers during the war.