In memory of Irena Sendlerowa

I had only heard bits of this story from the US news a few months ago. What I did not realize was that Irena was one of 180 others to be nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace prize. In the height of irony, the award that year went to a man who has done nothing for peace, but instead threw the world into chaos and fear, while enriching his bank account - Al Gore.

Irena, a Roman Catholic living in Warsaw during WWII, risked her life to smuggle approximately 2500 Jewish children to safety between 1943 and 1943. She placed them in homes of Polish families, orphanages or convents, hoping to reunite them with their parents after the war. She made lists of all their names, put them in jars and buried them in her garden for safe keeping.

She was captured by the Germans, and tortured - fracturing both legs and feet - prior to being sentenced to death. The Zegota underground bribed the executioner for her escape. Like the children she saved, she too went into hiding until the end of the war. She then dug up the bottles, and set about trying to find the parents of the children.

Almost all the parents of the children Irena saved, died at the Treblinka death camp.

Below some briefs from the “Life in a Jar” website.

When the Warsaw Ghetto was erected in 1940, Irena could no longer help isolated Jews. The Ghetto enclosed 16 square blocks of the city and 450,000 Jewish people were forced into this area.

Irena first rescued the orphan children from inside the Ghetto.

Irena used her papers as a Polish social worker and papers from one of the workers of the Contagious Disease Department (who was a member of the underground Zegota) to enter the Warsaw Ghetto.
To show her solidarity with the Jewish people, she put on the mandatory Star of David armband on her right arm when entering the ghetto.

Irena and the ten who went with her into the ghetto, used many, many methods to smuggle children out. There were five main means of escape: 1- using an ambulance a child could be taken out hidden under the stretcher. 2 - escape through the courthouse. 3 - a child could be taken out using the sewer pipes or other secret underground passages. 4- A trolley could carry out children hiding in a sack, in a trunk, a suitcase or something similar. 5 - if a child could pretend to be sick or was acutally very ill, it could be legally removed using the ambulance.

There was a church next to the ghetto, but the entrance leading to it was “sealed” by the Germans, but if a child could speak perfect Polish and rattle off some Christian prayers it could be smuggled in through the “sealed” entrance and later taken to the Aryan side. This was very dangerous since Germans often used a rouse to trick the Poles and then arrest Jolanta/Irena documented on the strips of paper she had buried, as well as where the child was taken in the first phase of its escape.

Irena (code name Jolanta) was arrested on October 20, 1943. When arrested she felt almost liberated. She was placed in the notorious Piawiak prison, where she was constantly questioned and tortured. During the questioning she had her legs and feet fractured.

The German who interrogated her was young, very stylish and spoke perfect Polish. He wanted the names of the Zegota leaders, their addresses and the names of others involved. Irena fed him the version that she and her collaborators had prepared in the event they were captured. The German held up a folder with information of places, times and persons who had informed on her. She received a death sentence. She was to be shot.

Unbeknown to her, Zegota had bribed the German executioner who helped her escape. On the following day the Germans loudly proclaimed her execution. Posters were put up all over the city with the news that she was shot. Irena read the posters herself.

During the remaining years of the war, she lived hidden, just like the children she rescued. Irena was the only one who knew where the children were to be found. When the war was finally over, she dug up the bottles and began the job of finding the children and trying to find a living parent.

Almost all the parents of the children Irena saved, died at the Treblinka death camp.

Zegota made it clear to all of those hiding children, when the war was over, they must be returned to Jewish relatives. In many cases there were no relatives to be found.

“The names of the saved children I wrote down on thin tissue paper. There were two identical lists in two bottles. When I once have the list at home the same night Gestapo arrived. Fortunately one of my liaison girls demonstrated her presence of mind and hid the list in her underwear. After that for safety reasons I never kept the lists at home. As more children were saved the bottles were dug up and new names added to the list.” Irena Sendler

Al Gore over this woman…. it boggles the mind as to just what the Nobel Laureate were thinking. May we find more courageous and compassionate souls like Irena in our generation, and the generations to come. And may we all have the wisdom to recognize those who truly deserve to be honored.