Irena Sendler, the Angel of the Warsaw Ghetto

 

Irena Sendler, the Angel of the Warsaw Ghetto

Author: Carmen Mª Morcillo López, 1ºA (2015-2016)

 

Irena Sendler (1910-2008), better known as the "Angel of the Warsaw Ghetto", was a Polish Catholic nurse and social worker, who during World War II helped and saved more than 2,500 Jewish children in the Warsaw Ghetto. . Despite the political and religious ideals of the time, this brave woman risked her life to save thousands of innocent people. She was nominated for the Novel Peace Prize in 2007, recognized as Righteous among the Nations and made a Dame of the Order of the White Eagle (Polish distinction).

 

She was born in Warsaw. She is the daughter of a doctor very dedicated to the Jewish community, when he died, it was that same community that paid for Irena's nursing studies.

 

After Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, she created the Warsaw ghetto for herself in 1942. Irena's sympathy for this community led her to join the Council for the Aid of Jews, with the aim of alleviating the typhus epidemic. So the Nazis were diligent and allowed the medical corps to do its job. Over time, Irena realized the dark objective that Nazi Germany had for that place and decided to get the little ones out of that place.

 

Despite being a Catholic, she decided to wear a Star of David bracelet so as not to attract attention. She soon began visiting various Jewish families offering them the possibility of taking her children out of the ghetto by various methods. She did not guarantee success, so many families were reluctant.

Irena Sendler with a girl in Warsaw during the 40s

 

 

 

The families that accepted handed over their children, and they were initially taken out by ambulances, under the pretext that they were seriously ill on their way to the hospital. Thanks to her collaborators, she was able to get the children out, although over time it became a more difficult task. Ella Irena tried to convince again the families to whom she had offered her help, although most of the time she did not see them again. The vast majority had been taken to concentration camps by death trains.

 

Despite the difficulties, Irena did not give up. She continued with her nursing work and concealed her intentions in this way. She started taking the children out of the ghetto inside garbage bags, coffins, etc. While she carried out that work of salvation, Jolanta, Irena's code name, registered all the children that she managed to get out of the ghetto so that they would not lose their identity. Some wore medals, for example, but never anything too clear to give them away.

 

 

 

On October 20, 1943, she was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to Pawlak prison, where she was tortured, although she never revealed the whereabouts of the escaping Jews. Finally, she was sentenced to death. However, a Polish soldier released her on the excuse of further questioning. After that event, she continued working under a false identity and took care not to leave any clues, burying her records in the garden of a neighbour of hers.

 

Once the war ended, she Irena dug up the lists with the names of the Jewish children and handed them over to the Committee to rescue the surviving Jews. Most of those who escaped were raised in orphanages, by anonymous couples, and even by Irena's acquaintances since their biological families perished in the concentration camps.

 

After that dark time, she married and had children. Irena's work was not discovered until years later, where her photograph was recognized by thousands of men and women who claimed to have been saved and cared for by this nurse. Finally, she died in 2008.

 

“The reason why I rescued the children originates from my home, from my childhood. I was brought up in the belief that a person in need should be helped from the heart, regardless of their religion or their nationality ».

With affection,

Ruben