A Person to Admire

Irena Sendler 1910-2008 A 98 year-old German woman named Irena Sendler recently died. During WWII, Irena worked in the Warsaw Ghetto as a plumbing/sewer specialist. Irena smuggled Jewish children out; infants in the bottom of the tool box she carried and older children in a burlap sack she carried in the back of her truck. She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids’ and infants’ noises. Irena managed to smuggle out and save 2500 children. She eventually was caught, and the Nazis broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar buried under a tree in her backyard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived and reunited some of the families. Most had been killed. She helped those children get placement into foster family homes or adopted. Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected. Al Gore won- for a slide show on Global Warming.

Comments

  1. Oh Linda, what a brave lady. Why is it that the most deserving never get the recognition? Thank you for posting this amazing story.

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  2. Linda, as Jan said it never seems to be the most deserving that get recognition. What a wonderful lady.

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  3. 2,500 that is a lot of kids!!! she sure did deserve the Nobel Peace Prize! amazing story. Did you have lots of fun in CA. looked like it Balboa Park is wonderful they also have a cactus desert garden there somewhere that I loved.Penny

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  4. Sendler's list? She just looks so nice doesn't she. So, they broke her legs and arms; that sounds like straight out of the Nazi text book!!

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  5. So many amazing stories from that time - from that generation. Are there still heroines like her among us?

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  6. What a wonderful, amazing story!
    -Lia

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  7. Oh, I strongly believe there are heroines among us like her. I read the other day something that has had me thinking. "If we don't have a few people that don't like us, does that mean we have not stood up for something we believe strongly in?" In a way I think we are all heros for living our lives in a good, kind way.Love you all, Linda

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  8. What an amazing beautiful lady.

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