Posted on: Jul 29, '09
Jugs full of life....story of an unsung hero!
The darkest hours of human history were always filled with hatred!
One such ‘darkest moment’ in the recent recorded history would be Europe under Nazi rule! Millions of people mostly Jews were exterminated systematically under Nazi rule!
The Nazis applied the principles of industrial production in murdering innocent people!
While evil was ruling, there were oases of humanity within many of the occupied lands!
There are many unsung heroes, who had risked their lives in saving a fellow human being! There is a long list of such heroes!
When World War 2 was raging, Poland fell to the German juggernaut in September 1939! Nazi Germany had a formidable ally in Soviet Union in invading Poland!
While Poland remained captive, Nazis implemented their ‘ethnic cleansing’ process in Poland too!
Jews were systematically pushed into ghettos! The living conditions of ghettos were so bad that the mortality rates were the highest amongst the people who lived in ghettos!
Children especially bore the brunt …of violence and epidemics!
Picture 1: Pathetic Condition of Jewish children in Warsaw Ghetto
One brave woman risked her life in saving a few thousand Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto and from the jaws of death (either through disease or by Nazis!).
This brave woman was Irena Sendler!
Born on February 15, 1910, Irena sympathized with Jews from her childhood. Having seen strong anti-Semitic sentiments ruling the community, she always wanted to help the under privileged Jews in Poland!
When Germans invaded Poland in 1939, she and her friends had created close to 3000 false documents for Jews to escape certain death!
Helping Jews to escape was the riskiest act a Pole could ever imagine! If caught, the ‘offender’ would face death sentence!
Picture 2: A wall sign proclaiming death to Poles who would help Jews!
Despite the death threat, Irena managed to smuggle Jewish children out of Warsaw Ghetto by carrying them out in boxes, suitcases and trolleys! She smuggled out small children and infants in Trams and Ambulances! She had even disguised infants as packages in order to get past the German check points!
She saved 2500 children from the Ghetto and therefore from cruel death at the hands of Nazi murderers!
The ‘saved’ children were placed safely with some brave Polish families, Orphanages run by the Sisters of the Family of Mary in Warsaw, or with Roman Catholic Convents in Poland! At times these children were left with the priests of some Catholic Rectories, for safe custody!
The most wonderful thing Irena did was to keep the records of these saved children safe! She had hidden the details of these children – both, their original identity and the changed identities, in jars. She had hidden these jars so that she or her friends could retrieve the after the war and ensure that these children were returned to their parents!
Zegota, the Polish underground organization she worked for in this effort, had assured the children that they would be reunited with their parents after the war!
Unfortunately, the fate was crueler! Most children saved had lost their parents to either murders in Concentration camps or to diseases or the parents had gone missing!
The brave lady Irena was caught in her act by Gestapo in 1943. She was tortured severely and was sentenced to death! But the fiery lady was able to survive the torture and manage to bribe her German guards to escape death, on the way to the gallows!
Her home land, Poland remained occupied even after the World War 2, as the Soviets ran over Poland and kept it under their occupation! She continued her fight against the Communist Regime in Poland, and was arrested. While in prison she had even miscarried! Her other children were denied the right to education by the Communist regime!
Finally she got recognized for her selfless act!
She had received the Israeli Government honor in 1965! That was the first time the Communists in Poland had allowed her to travel abroad to receive the honor!
In 2003, Pope John Paul II had sent her a personal letter of appreciation for her valiant efforts in saving children during the World War 2!
In the same year, Polish Government too honored her with the Order of the White Eagle, the highest Civilian honor in Poland!
Many more awards were heaped on her. In 2007 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize!
(Of course former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore won the award that year!)
What touches me most is her attitude towards accolades…
She wrote to the Polish Parliament in reply to their letter nominating her for an award,
"Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory."
I am truly impressed by this humanist who risked torture and death in saving the lives of children from pure evil!
PS: It’s not her birth or death anniversary! Yet, seeing children begging at a traffic light made me think of the plight of children, even in peace time! Ghettos galore and yet we are insensitive to the plight of children! I just wanted to salute a hero…so I did…
I salute you Irena Sendler…..
Tags: saving jewish children, irena sandler, unsung hero, world war 2, poland, warsaw ghetto
...such a beautiful tale of bravery and self sacrifice..... 
About Me
