Polish righteous Gentile woman recommended for Nobel Prize

Haaretz ^ | Mon., October 09, 2006 | Amiram Barkat

[lizol]

Polish righteous Gentile woman recommended for Nobel Prize

By Amiram Barkat

Holocaust survivor groups here have joined the recommendation of the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, to award the Nobel Peace Prize to 96-year-old Irena Sandlar.

Sandler, who was a member of the Polish underground group Zegota that was dedicated to saving Jews, was recognized by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in 1965 for smuggling numerous Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The children received false papers and were either adopted by Christian families or sent to convents. Sandler, however, recorded the real names of 2,500 children on lists that were placed in glass jars and buried, with the hope that the youngsters would eventually be returned to their families. The Gestapo arrested Sandler in October 1943. Despite being tortured, she refused to reveal the children's identity, and was sentenced to death by a Nazi court. The underground group freed her, and she lived in hiding under an assumed identity until the end of the war.

If Sandler, who still lives in Poland, is chosen for the Nobel award, it would be the first time the honor would be bestowed to a righteous Gentile.

[lizol]

http://www.irenasendler.org

[lizol]

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[lizol]

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[Cacique]

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[Irish Rose]

Good story, but the headline is weird. "Polish righteous Gentile woman"?

[trashcanbred]

The Nobel committee cannot award her the prize because that would be acknowledging the Holocaust existed... and that would not be very PC towards Europe's friends in the Middle East...

[ReignOfError]

Good story, but the headline is weird. "Polish righteous Gentile woman"?

"The phrase "righteous Gentile" has a specific meaning to Israelis -- it means they've been recognized for resistance to the Holocaust by the Yad Vashem Museum.The formal title is "Righteous Among the Nations."

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Would be nice if they'd get it done while she could enjoy the recognition in this world.

[Alouette]

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[rmlew]

Considering that she was probably, in part, responsible for the survival of a family friend, she desrves far more than the soiled Nobel Prize.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Why would we want to disgrace her by giving her the Nobel Peace Prize?

[Alexander Rubin]

G-d bless that woman.

[M. Espinola]

A true hero for the Jewish people. G-d bless her.

Warsaw, Poland . . . 1942 – On October 12, 1940 – Yom Kippur – the Germans issued a decree calling for the establishment of a ghetto in Warsaw. About 400,000 Jews from the city and the surrounding region were forced to move into an area of 1.3 square miles. In mid-November, the ghetto was sealed. On account of the cramped conditions, poor sanitation, and very limited food and medicine, disease and starvation claimed thousands of lives each month. In July 1942, mass deportations of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto began. Most were sent to Treblinka. Horrified by the Germans’ persecution of the Jews, a group of Polish citizens formed an underground organization called the Council for the Aid to Jews, or Zegota, in September 1942. Irena Sendler became the head of Zegota’s Children’s Bureau. She obtained documents that allowed her to enter the ghetto, and she began to smuggle children out. Irena and the members of Zegota led some children out through the underground corridors of a courthouse and through a tram depot. They sedated some infants and carried them out in potato sacks or coffins. A church located on the edge of the ghetto also became useful. It had two entrances, one inside the ghetto and one on the Christian side of Warsaw. With Zegota’s help, some children entered the church as Jews and exited as “Christians.” In addition to smuggling children out of the ghetto, Irena Sendler found safe places for them to hide – often with non-Jewish families in the Warsaw area. Children were also sheltered in convents, hospitals, and orphanages. The Germans learned of Irena’s activities. On October 20, 1943, she was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the Pawiak prison. Irena was tortured brutally, but she refused to give any information about Zegota or about the children she had placed in hiding. She was sentenced to death. Members of Zegota bribed one of the Gestapo agents, and on the day Irena was to be executed, she was permitted to escape. She had to go into hiding for the remainder of the war but continued to coordinate her rescue work. By January 1945, when Warsaw was liberated by Soviet troops, the Children’s Bureau of Zegota had saved more than 2,500 Jewish children. Irena Sendler is 96 years old and lives in Warsaw.

Irena Sandler saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto. Sendler, a non-Jewish social worker, went into the Ghetto and talked Jewish parents into giving her their children, telling them that otherwise, they would all die. She smuggled the children past the Nazi guards and got them adopted into Polish homes. Sendler put lists of the children's names in jars and buried them in her garden so that someday she could find the children and tell them their real identities. The Nazis captured her and beat her, but the underground bribed a guard to let her go. After the war, she dug up the jars. Irena Sendler backgrounder Link Irena Sendler, social worker, WWII hero, rescuer of Jews

[sheik yerbouty]

A great woman of valor!

[Valin]

Bump.

[justiceseeker93]

I agree with you: she is a great woman of valor.

But is the Nobel Peace Prize a fitting reward for her, considering that it has been tarnished by recipients like Yasser Arafat and Jimmy Carter?

Perhaps she should be best remembered by her inclusion as a "Righteous Among the Nations" at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem (which she has already attained) and by the honors that the current Polish government has bestowed upon her.

[sheik yerbouty]

The Nobel Peace Prize, has unfortunately, been made meaningless..

[Ciexyz]

A true hero - may her story continue to be told so that all may marvel at her courage.

[Ciexyz]

She's certainly much more deserving than many of the recent winners - a certain failed President comes to mind.

[skr]

Considering some of the other prize recipients, she deserves much, much better.