Irena Sendler was 30 in 1940, when the 400,000 Jews of Warsaw were herded into the ghetto and sealed off in the first step of the plan to exterminate them. In late 1942, after 280,000 had been deported to the death camp Treblinka, Sendler and others formed Zegota, a Polish underground council to aid the Jews. Sendler's heart-rending mission, was to explain to a Jewish mother, that the only possible way to save her child was to give the boy or girl over to her. She promised that after the war she would try to reunite the families. The children were secreted in convents, orphanages and with Polish families. Captured by the Nazi's and tortured, she was freed by the underground on her way to be executed. She had put the name of each child on a slip of paper, and buried them in a jar for safekeeping. After the war she did attempt to reunite the families, but almost all the parents had perished. Irena Sendler's remarkable courage has become widely known because of ninth grade school project in Kansas, Life in a Jar.
May 25, 2011
A Promise Kept
Irena Sendler was 30 in 1940, when the 400,000 Jews of Warsaw were herded into the ghetto and sealed off in the first step of the plan to exterminate them. In late 1942, after 280,000 had been deported to the death camp Treblinka, Sendler and others formed Zegota, a Polish underground council to aid the Jews. Sendler's heart-rending mission, was to explain to a Jewish mother, that the only possible way to save her child was to give the boy or girl over to her. She promised that after the war she would try to reunite the families. The children were secreted in convents, orphanages and with Polish families. Captured by the Nazi's and tortured, she was freed by the underground on her way to be executed. She had put the name of each child on a slip of paper, and buried them in a jar for safekeeping. After the war she did attempt to reunite the families, but almost all the parents had perished. Irena Sendler's remarkable courage has become widely known because of ninth grade school project in Kansas, Life in a Jar.
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Irene Sendler is a true saint or whatever the Jewish equivalent of saint is. Thanks Tribune for sharing this uplifting and important story.
ReplyDeleteabove post by Ledebur. ...having trouble with my computing. I disapprove of anonymous posts.
ReplyDeleteAnother outstanding post.
ReplyDeleteOf course, not all people who dared defy the Nazis and help Jews escaped death by execution.
But the is absolutely no question this Polish lady is a genuine heroine.
"there is"
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteI truly enjoy your entries about Jewish and Middle Eastern history. Informative. Heart-warming. Emotional.
Thank you.
hey you deleted my post I am sorry if you were offended but we need somebody strong like the Nazi leader to make our streets safe and clean
ReplyDeleteEs tut mir sehr viel leid, Herr Molovinsky.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid our 'friend' here is horribly confused and, perhaps, every bit as insane as the notorious Hitler, himself.
'Strong', such as the principled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is certainly admirable and desirable.
Anything 'like the Nazi leader' absolutely is not and is completely surplus to requirements with respect to keeping streets safe and clean.
It is sincerely shocking to contemplate that a real, live human being could actually even begin to think the only way to maintain basic order in society would be to recall the most brutal, thuggish regime ever.
Unmistakable evidence that educational pieces such as these are, apparently, still necessary.
Sad, really.
May 25, 2011 9:36 PM
ReplyDeleteWOW.
The article had nothing to do with leaders - even the drugged out nut case you referred to.
It highlighted that amongst us all are great individuals.
That woman, in my mind, rates far above the best known generals.
She should be viewed as an example
for us all.