FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Irena Sendler ~ 23 November 2015

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[Kathy in Alaska]

 

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~ Hall of Heroes ~

Irena Sendler

Info from this website and this website. 

           

Today's hero is a little different in that she was neither in the military nor an American - but she is a hero nonetheless.  She performed a labor of love that was extraordinary.  I hope you are as moved by her story as I am.

Irena Sendlernee Krzyanowska, in

Poland commonly referred to as Irena Sendlerowa, 15 February 1910 - 12 May 2008) was a Polish Catholic social worker who served in the Polish Underground and the Żegota resistance organization in German-occupied Warsaw during World War II. Assisted by some two dozen other Żegota members, Sendler saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, providing them with false documents, and sheltering them in individual and group children's homes outside the Ghetto.

Irena Sendler sympathized with Jews from childhood. Her father Dr Stanislaw Krzyzanowski, a physician, died in February 1917 of typhus contracted while treating Jewish patients. She opposed the ghetto-bench system that existed at some prewar Polish universities and as a result was suspended from Warsaw University for three years.

During the German occupation of Poland Sendler lived in Warsaw (prior to that, she had lived in Otwock and Tarczyn while working for urban Social Welfare departments). As early as 1939, when the Germans invaded Poland, she began aiding Jews. She and her helpers created over 3,000 false documents to help Jewish families, prior to joining the organized Żegota resistance and the children's division. Helping Jews was very risky in German occupied Poland, all household members risked death if they were found to be hiding Jews, a more severe punishment than in other occupied European countries.

To be able to enter the Ghetto legally, Irena managed to be issued a pass from Warsaws Epidemic Control Department and she visited the Ghetto daily, reestablished contacts and brought food, medicines and clothing. But 5,000 people were dying a month from starvation and disease in the Ghetto, and she decided to help the Jewish children to get out. For Irena Sendler, a young mother herself, persuading parents to part with their children was in itself a horrendous task. Finding families willing to shelter the children, and thereby willing to risk their life if the Nazis ever found out, was also not easy.

Irena Sendler, who wore a star armband as a sign of her solidarity to Jews, began smuggling children out in an ambulance. She recruited at least one person from each of the ten centers of the Social Welfare Department. With their help, she issued hundreds of false documents with forged signatures. Irena Sendler successfully smuggled almost 2,500 Jewish children to safety and gave them temporary new identities.

Some children were taken out in gunnysacks or body bags. Some were buried inside loads of goods. A mechanic took a baby out in his toolbox. Some kids were carried out in potato sacks, others were placed in coffins, some entered a church in the Ghetto which had two entrances. One entrance opened into the Ghetto, the other opened into the Aryan side of Warsaw. They entered the church as Jews and exited as Christians. "`Can you guarantee they will live?'" Irena later recalled the distraught parents asking. But she could only guarantee they would die if they stayed. "In my dreams," she said, "I still hear the cries when they left their parents."

Irena Sendler accomplished her incredible deeds with the active assistance of the church. "I sent most of the children to religious establishments," she recalled. "I knew I could count on the Sisters." Irena also had a remarkable record of cooperation when placing the youngsters: "No one ever refused to take a child from me," she said. The children were given false identities and placed in homes, orphanages and convents. Irena Sendler carefully noted, in coded form, the childrens original names and their new identities. She kept the only record of their true identities in jars buried beneath an apple tree in a neighbor's back yard, across the street from German barracks, hoping she could someday dig up the jars, locate the children and inform them of their past.

In all, the jars contained the names of 2,500 children ...

Nazi Genocide

But the Nazis became aware of Irena's activities, and on October 20, 1943 she was arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the Gestapo, who broke her feet and legs. She ended up in the Pawiak Prison, but no one could break her spirit. Though she was the only one who knew the names and addresses of the families sheltering the Jewish children, she withstood the torture, that crippled her for life, refusing to betray either her associates or any of the Jewish children in hiding. Sentenced to death, Irena was saved at the last minute when Zegota members bribed one of the Gestapo agents to halt the execution. She escaped from prison but for the rest of the war she was pursued by the Nazis.

After the war she dug up the jars and used the notes to track down the 2,500 children she placed with adoptive families and to reunite them with relatives scattered across Europe. But most lost their families during the Holocaust in Nazi death camps. The children had known her only by her code name Jolanta. But years later, after she was honored for her wartime work, her picture appeared in a newspaper. "A man, a painter, telephoned me," said Sendler, "`I remember your face,' he said. `It was you who took me out of the ghetto.' I had many calls like that!"

The Holocaust

Irena Sendler did not think of herself as a hero. She claimed no credit for her actions. "I could have done more," she said. "This regret will follow me to my death." She has been honored by international Jewish organizations - in 1965 she accorded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem organization in Jerusalem and in 1991 she was made an honorary citizen of Israel. Irena Sendler was awarded Poland's highest distinction, the Order of White Eagle, in Warsaw Monday Nov. 10, 2003, and she was announced as the 2003 winner of the Jan Karski award for Valor and Courage. She has officially been designated a national hero in Poland and schools are named in her honor. Annual Irena Sendler days are celebrated throughout Europe and the United States.

In 2007, she was nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. At a special session in Poland's upper house of Parliament, President Lech Kaczynski announced the unanimous resolution to honor Irena Sendler for rescuing "the most defenseless victims of the Nazi ideology: the Jewish children." He referred to her as a "great heroine who can be justly named for the Nobel Peace Prize. She deserves great respect from our whole nation."

During the ceremony Elzbieta Ficowska, who was just six months old when she was saved by Irena Sendler, read out a letter on her behalf: "Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory," Irena Sendler said in the letter, "Over a half-century has passed since the hell of the Holocaust, but its spectre still hangs over the world and doesn't allow us to forget."

This lovely, courageous woman was one of the most dedicated and active workers in aiding Jews during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Her courage enabled not only the survival of 2,500 Jewish children but also of the generations of their descendants.

The Nobel Prize recipient, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, has dedicated his life to ensuring that none of us forget what happened to the Jews. He wrote:

"In those times there was darkness everywhere. In heaven and on earth, all the gates of compassion seemed to have been closed. The killer killed and the Jews died and the outside world adopted an attitude either of complicity or of indifference. Only a few had the courage to care ..."

- Louis Bulow

On 12 May 2008, Sendler died. In July 2010, the words 'Jews out' were sprayed on her grave.

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission! 

[MoochPooch]

Evening, Kathy. Thanks for honoring a Holocaust heroine!

[E.G.C.]

A very pleasant good Monday morning to everyone at the Canteen and to all our military at home and abroad. Thanks for your service to our country.

((HUGS))Good morning, Ladies. Thanks for this morning's thread, Star. How's it going?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning, Mooch...a heroine she surely was.

The things she did at so much risk to herself. And she did it over and over and over.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning, E...((HUGS))...You and Bo have a great Monday.

Any family coming for Thanksgiving?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Prayers for Arrowhead's recovery, and in his absence....

[Kathy in Alaska]

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night Troops, wherever you are.

Thank you for doing your part to help keep all of us free and safe.

Thanks, unique, for the pastries.

Coffee is always on........

How about a cupcake?

Cookies?

Veggies?

Sandwich?

[Kathy in Alaska]

God bless and keep safe our troops worldwide.

Good night.

Statler Brothers ~ How Great Thou Art

[E.G.C.]

My sister from the city is coming down tomorrow with some Thanksgiving food.

[beachn4fun]

WELCOME TO THE

FR CANTEEN

Good morning, Everyone.

Good morning to our

AWESOME

Military, our Allies, and their families.

Thank you, Star, for preparing the Canteen
for today's activities.
What a wonderful story.
Reminds me if Schindler's List.
I'll have to look up the book.

I won't be around much this week;
hubby is off and we are going to be
running the roads most of the week.

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Have a safe and enjoyable day, and
if you are traveling, have a safe journey.

Remember, celery helps with the "I ate too much" feeling.

Remember, the Canteen is ALWAYS

OPEN

So, come on in and sit for a while.
There's always plenty of coffee, tea;
pancakes, conversation, silliness,
and plain old BS

REMEMBER THEM

DEFENDERS OF FREEDOM

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT

Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before.

[E.G.C.]

((HUGS))Good morning, Beach. How’s it going?

[Vigilanteman]

I remember the 2009 movie very well. Few films I have seen have been as moving and inspiring. If anyone deserved veneration by the Nobel Committee, it would have been Irena.

However, I seem to recall that they ignored her nomination in 2007 to honor the Global Warming freak show of Al Gore. It shows you where their priorities lie better than any long essay.

[IronJack]

Gonna be a casual Thanksgiving this year. Kids are scattered to the four winds.

[MEG33]

Amazing story !
Thank you so much.

[MEG33]

Good Monday Morning To The Canteen

Hey! Where did autumn go?
*HUGS*
Happy Thanksgiving Week

[PROCON]

Morning Beachie! So you have a whole lot of traveling going on this week, any snow coming your way?

I'm traveling Wednesday to my sister's place; it'll be fun to see her again and play some cards and visit.

We're suppose to get snow here tomorrow but the mountain passes should be clear on my travel days.

Well, I'll check in with you in a few days to see if you're around.

Have a wonderful week!

[PROCON]

Morning MEG.

A chilly 22 degrees here this morning.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

[MEG33]

Brrr We are a chilly 33... We will warm up but rain is forecast for Thanksgiving.

Thank you!

[TADSLOS]

Six total, not that many. Turkey and either a ham or roast.

[SandRat]

Good morning, Kathy,...((HUGS))...she WAS a VERY special lady.