Irena Sendler’s Gift of Life
The writers of our history books must feel some deep embarrassment. They forgot all about Irena Sendler and she has somehow been left out of discussions of Nazi resistance. This is not to suggest that no teacher or professor has ever mentioned her in a lecture. Some may in fact be well versed in Sendler’s story. However, the rarity of such an education is simply outrageous. In fact, I’ve only very recently been made aware of this injustice myself, and even then, it was not in the classroom. Irena Sendler was born 15 February in 1910 and lived until 12 May 2008. She was truly lucky to have lived such a long life.
Irena Sendler was living and working as a social worker in her native Poland during World War II. She was the head of underground resistance organization Zegota, which was located in Warsaw. During this time, she managed to smuggle about 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. The organization then set up false identities and documents for these children. While visiting the Ghetto, she wore a Star of David to signify her solidarity with the Jewish community. Her activities, unfortunately, did not go unnoticed. She was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death by the Nazis. She managed to escape the death penalty when Zegota bribed her guards. The children and babies that Sendler smuggled out were snuck out in ambulances or disguised as packages.
Today, Sendler is remembered in Poland as a wartime hero and awarded a number of honors. She was recognized by Israel for her work. She was granted the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award a year after she died. What is quite surprising and more than a little upsetting is the apparent unimportance of her work shown by the lack of acknowledgement she has received in our textbooks and our classrooms. This is my attempt to share with perhaps just a couple more people on the amazing work Sendler did and the huge impact she had on a huge number of lives.
Columnist: Erin Johnson
The Cave 