Wherever radical evil openly flourishes, that’s where miracles also abound. A hero is someone who risks her own life in order to save another person’s life. A hero may know that what she is doing is dangerous, that she herself might be caught and punished, she might be very afraid–but her fear does not stop her. Such actions go beyond speaking out, beyond documenting the atrocities. It is important to teach our children that high-risk courage, self-sacrifice, morality, and goodness do exist. The world may not always do so.
Indeed, for nearly fifty years, the world forgot about the heroic Irena Sendler. She was “discovered” by four Uniontown, Kansas high school students in 1999. Their research, which they turned into a play, finally brought her story to world attention. When the students visited Sendler in 2001, she was already in her nineties, in poor health, and living in poverty.
Of course, in 1965, Israel had already given Sendler the title of “Righteous Among the Nations.” In 1983, she had visited Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem to receive this award in person. In 1991, Israel also made her an honorary citizen. However, this was not enough to launch Sendler’s reputation around the world. Perhaps saving Jews was not viewed as morally courageous to anyone but Jews.
The American Kansas student visit was written up by the Polish and international media, and almost overnight Sendler became a national hero. She was honored with Poland’s Commodore’s Cross of Polonia Restituta and the country’s highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle. She also became Poland’s nominee for a Nobel Peace Prize.
So, who was she and why am I writing about her today?
Sendler/Sendlerowa is the quietly fearless, exceedingly modest, and incredibly brave Polish Catholic woman, a social worker, who rescued 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto and placed them in convents, orphanages and with Polish Catholic families. She carefully preserved their identities so that they could be re-united with surviving family members after the War.
To do this work, Sendler had to persuade already terrified and beaten-down Jewish mothers and fathers to part with their precious children–much like the Biblical Moses’ mother did when she placed him in a basket and set him down among the bulrushes, not far from Pharoah’s palace. In a sense, Irena was like Miriam, Moses’ sister, who watched over him until he was rescued–only Irena went further; she actually brought each Jewish child out to safety herself.
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27 Comments
1. Greenconsciousness:Thank You for this post.
I had chills while I read it. So brave So brave — such an inspiration. Courage through the fear. Carefully preserving their parentage. I wonder if the children found her and went to visit. And then to live quietly in poverty while the world honored others. I wish she was still here. I would write her a thank you note.
Thank you for remembering in print these heroes Phyllis. I always especially enjoy your work remembering women of courage, You have a gift for that kind of writing. Often when I read history I am bored but feel it is “good for me to know”. But your writing is different. I remember your writing about the Jewish women who sought to improve the working conditions of prostitutes and other such accounts. Now this. Really important compelling writing.
Apr 20, 2009 - 2:40 pm 2. Nisse C.:It was a beautiful and upsetting story to watch. At the end, after listening to the actual Irena, I was quite emotional, and as trite as might sound, it occurred to me she was a genuine saint or angel, a person who risked all for doing what was right.
Apr 20, 2009 - 3:30 pm 3. Fern Sidman:Real heroes and those who display this kind of genuine and inordinate courage, self-sacrifice and stoic bravery are not born everyday.
In a society that catapults selfishness and self-interest to the highest of moral standards, it is understandable that very few can appreciate the contributions to humanity made by Irena Senderlowa.
Indeed, Dr. Chesler is correct in pointing out the comparison of Senderlowa’s deeds to that of Yocheved and Miriam, (mother and sister of Moses) in the Bible. For it takes complete faith in a power greater than ourselves, along with generous doses of intestinal fortitude to defy persecution, heinous torture and a painful and gruesome death in order to save innocent lives and to oppose the pernicious agenda of our oppressors.
The Torah teaches us that one who saves a single life is tantamount to one who has saved an entire world. It is abundantly clear that Ms. Senderlowa saved 2500 worlds and the thousands of people who have descended from these 2500 Jewish children. It is also no coincidence that Sendlerowa was “discovered” by the four Uniontown, Kansas high school students in 1999. The wheels of justice do move slowly but they, in the end, do turn.
The G-d who gave Sendlerowa the compassion and strength to save these lives has not forgotten her. While she did not receive the respect and tribute she deserved earlier, the course of history could have dictated that we may never have known of her actions or perhaps only learned about her after she was no longer on this earth.
While we may never know why it took so long for Senderlowa to be brought before the public eye, we are grateful to G-d that she has been. As such, Holocaust historians and those concerned with preserving the authentic history of this dark and chilling era must commit themselves to teaching future generations of young people about what “real” heroism means, what real courage stands for and what may be incumbent of each of us in the future to preserve humanity as we know it.
Apr 20, 2009 - 6:54 pm 4. kenny komodo:It’s hard to understand the courage it took for Irena to do what she did. During the German occupation of Poland it was standard policy that any Pole who was caught helping or hiding a Jew was immediately shot. No questions, no mercy. So any family that took in a Jewish child or family faced a terrible risk. But it went even further. The anti Semitic feelings among the Polish people was very strong and many Poles who helped Jews were turned in to the German authorities by their friends and neighbors. Jews who escaped from the death pits and ghetto’s were frequently fingered by Polish citizens and given over to the Germans, in many instances for nothing more then a loaf of bread and a bottle of vodka. There were countries in Europe where many Jews did survive either through the assistance of the government, like in Finland for example, or where the local population absolutely refused to cooperate with the Germans, as in Italy. Poland, unfortunately, was not among those countries.
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:20 pm 5. Always On Watch:I saw that Hallmark film on Sunday evening.
What struck me in addition to the lady’s commitment and bravery: how much in denial as to “the final solution” the Jewish community in Warsaw was.
Apr 21, 2009 - 5:21 am 6. Pajamas Media » The Moral Courage Of Irene Sendlerowa:[...] Read the rest of the story here. [...]
Apr 21, 2009 - 10:55 am 7. drjohn:I know of this story. It’s amazing. Even more amazing is that Al Gore won a Nobel prize over her.
Apr 21, 2009 - 11:04 am 8. jimpres:A very touching story about the saving of so many jewish children from the Ghetto in Warzawa during WWII. The underground Zegota was specifically set up to help the Jews. Lets hope and pray we very see this happen again.
Apr 21, 2009 - 11:27 am 9. Truth Denied:To ad insult to this wonderful heroine’s life, Irena Sendler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Price in 2007. She did not receive the Prize and died the following year. Who did receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007? Al Gore for his sldeshow on global warming. Thankfully, this woman’s rewards are in Heaven. God bless you, Irena.
Apr 21, 2009 - 11:40 am 10. Delia:What a heart-wrenching post, Ms. Chesler.
9. Truth Denied,
Ugh. Al Gore of ALL PEOPLE too! ICK!
~
Phyllis, I consider you a hero too btw.
Apr 21, 2009 - 11:51 am 11. Lynn B.:My life has frequently gotten in the way of being courageous. I’m writing to thank you, Ms. Chesler, for setting my feet on a path that can’t be denied.
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:16 pm 12. Libertyship46:Irena proved what good people are capable of doing when courage is stronger than fear. We need to hear more stories like this today. There are everyday heroes all around us, we just have to take the time to look for them.
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:40 pm 13. Helen:One reason why the world knew little about this amazing lady was because she was after the war persecuted and imprisoned by the Polish Communist government. Imprisoned again, she miscarried; her children were not allowed to attend Polish universities and she was not allowed out of the country till 1983. That is why she collected her Israeli decoration till then. Let’s have the full story. There were two vicious political systems and, all too often, they persecuted the same people.
Apr 21, 2009 - 1:48 pm 14. MiamaMan:I bow to Irena Sendlerowa, for her courage and service. She truly shows the best of Poland and their people.
Unfortunately, there was the other side of the coin, the evil side of antisemitism in Poland. I once mentioned here that one of the leaders of the Sobibor revolt, a great man, Leon Fendhendler, after surviving the ordeal and hiding for several years, was killed by antisemitic Poles in his native Lublin.
Yesterday, I had a telephone conversation with Thomas (Toivi) Blatt, author of the book “Sobibor: The Forgotten Revolt”, and one of the few survivors of the Sobibor revolt still alive, as he was 15 at the time, and just turned 83 a few days ago. He is originally from Izbica, in Lublin Voivodeship, one of the areas within the Pale of Settlement. In 3 days he will be living for Germany to testify in the John Demjanjuk case, as you probably know, Demjanjuk is accused, among other thing, of being a guard at Sobibor, and he is being deported to Germany.
Mr. Blatt told me that a few weeks ago, he received a letter from one of the Jewish/Soviet officers that were instrumental in killing several SS guards in Sobibor. His name is Arkady Wajpapier, I was surprised, he must be well in his 90s.
Apr 21, 2009 - 2:43 pm 15. Louis:It was obvious in the Hallmark Movie that Sendler was a Catholic and other Polish Catholics helped the Jewish children at great risk. I am not Catholic but lost in the movie was any sense that Sendler, and other Catholics, did so because they followed the teachings of the Catholic Church and followed their Christian convictions. Sendler was more portrayed simply as a caring person of the oppressed and the motivations of the other Poles were hardly hinted at.
Apr 21, 2009 - 4:16 pm 16. Barbara Dillon Hillas:Irena Sendlerowa was a member of the Zegota movement. Members were Polish Catholics who saved Polish Jews during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
There are many such stories that many of us have never heard. One of the co-founders of this movement, that saved thousands of Jews, during World War II, was another member of the “decent” race, Wladislaw Bartoszewski.
Apr 21, 2009 - 4:21 pm 17. Anna:For more, see:
http://tr.im/jcl0
Apr 21, 2009 - 8:08 pm 18. juliet:Irena Sendlerowe ( and many like her ie. the catholic familes who took the children in ) is the reason I still have faith & hope in mankind. Even in the face of pure evil -facism & communism- Mrs Sendlerowe stood by her faith to protect the children whon now have given the world more brave children & grandchildren to fight evil. May God rest her soul & bless her family for all the good she did.
Apr 21, 2009 - 9:28 pm 19. JFM:There was the curious case of a Polish woman, don’t remember her name, who had been member or perhaps co-founder of a political Party who advocated for the expulsion of Polish Jews. She told she had ever disliked Jews, be it before, during or after the war. But despite this she saved a lot of them and took many personal risks.
About Schindler, you can honor Sendlerowa without throwing dirt on him. First of all, people who have seen the movie will remember the big swastika he wears at the beginning. That is _not_ the insignia of Party members. The swastika worn by Party members was very small. What Schindler wears is what you wore when you wanted to do business with Nazi officials.
Also according to his biography, he was a Suddeten Deutsch (ie born in Czechoslowakia) so perhaps this spared him the deleterous german political athmosphere. He was also a serial womanizer. He looks to have been one of those people who feel bad in presence of suffering and are prone to sudden and at times irrational impulses of generosity (several examples of this before the war). He hired Jewish employees as cheap labor but from the start he treated them far better as the minimum set by the authorities and it appears that he gradually became fond of them and specially of some of the women. When Nazi policy towards the Jews changed from mere discriminations to genocide he tried to keep “his” Jews safe. Now he could have given the SS what they wanted and ask them to provide replacements, there was no shortage of them. By the end of the war he was deliberately sabotaging production (he was no longer producing cooking pots but ammo) and hiring Jews he didn’t need so he was losing money. After the war he was forced to leave Germany due to the hostility of his compatriots. He was not a knight in shining armor. Money played a role, at least at the beginning and I am quite sure that his affairs with Jewish women played a role in mollifying his heart respective to the fate of Jews, but AFAIK, he was far better than what is depicted in the article. And he was not a member of the Party.
Apr 22, 2009 - 4:39 am 20. MiamaMan:19. JFM
Oskar Schindler, AFAIK, joined the Nazi party in 1939.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Schindler
He was also active in the separatist Sudeten German Party before the war, and started working for the Nazi military intelligence, the Abwehr, headed by Admiral Canaris.
That he did much good and saved many Jews from certain death, is not under doubt.
Apr 22, 2009 - 3:20 pm 21. Tonya:God Bless her and keep her always! I loved this story and I am sad to say that it is the first time to hear it.
I wish I could have watched the Hallmark episode, but I did not know of it.
Thank You for your story of Irena Sendlerowa, because she sounds like an angel that lived here on earth.
Apr 22, 2009 - 10:22 pm 22. JFM:My mistake about him joining of the Party. I will have to reread his bio and check the sources. Notice that in the book “The Righteous” there is the case of a pre-1933 middle rank Nazi (a town major) who saved Jews. Could be that Schindler joined because it was good for business, could be that he was grateful for being “liberated” of Czech “opression” and shared that pârt of Nazi goals about recovering the German-populated lands lost after 1918, he could even have been an antisemite who saw the light when he realized that it was not banning or discriminstions but genocide and that even new born babies were going to be killed for teh crime of being born.
Apr 22, 2009 - 11:10 pm 23. MiamaMan:22. JFM
I believe the following about Oskar Schindler:
1) Like many Germans or Volkdeutsche from Sudeten land, he was against the Czechoslovakian government, and resented their intrusion. He also wanted union with the Reich since he joined early the German Sudeten Party that advocated just that. He was even thrown in jail once by the Czechs for his activities. However, differently from infamous countryman Karl Hermann Frank of Lidice fame, also a Sudeten, Schindler did not hate the Czechs.
2) Schindler apparently was an opportunist, but with a good heart. He joined the Nazi party partly because was good for business, but in 1939 Germany Hitler was extremely popular, and many bad things were still to happen.
3) The extermination of the Jews opened his eyes and acted upon his noble nature, and he ended up helping, and saving, so many Jews. The fact that he befriended and saw the cruelty of one of the worst Nazis ever to exist, the Austrian depicted in the film “Schindler List”, Amon Goetz, in charge at the time of the Plasow Arbeit Lager, probably helped to open his eyes.
BTW: A while back I found in the Internet, a tremendous sequence of picture of the hanging of Amon Goetz by the Poles in 1947. Goetz was 6′4″ tall, and the rope broke twice in the process, it was only at the 3rd time that he “departed”, his last words were: Heil Hitler!
Apr 23, 2009 - 6:50 am 24. MiamaMan:It gets better, it is really a video!
Here is the original video of the botched hanging of monster Amon Goetz, played by Ralph Fiennes in “Schindler’s List”
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=317_1218265064
Apparently he died of strangulation, as there was not enough fall to break the neck.
Apr 23, 2009 - 10:01 am 25. JFM:About Schindler again: if he had acted only because of the money he was making through the work of his Jews, like the article seems to imply, how is that these remained grateful and friends to him after the war? If I had been saved by someone who acted only for self-interest I would feel compelled to aid him if he fell on hard times but I would hold him at arm length.
Also it is not true that Schindler did not take risks: he was arrested twice by the Gestapo and it was because he had built a network of influential friends and partners that he was released.
Apr 24, 2009 - 4:51 am 26. MiamaMan:JFM…
No, no, you are right. Forget the article, Oskar Schindler was a great man, and took many risks for the Jews he employed. Several times he was at the brink of internment in a Concentration camp or worse, but continued to help.
I did not say he never took risks, on the contrary, and I bow to his memory and good deeds.
Apr 24, 2009 - 6:01 am 27. old fart:While I am total awe about the story of Irena I fail to understand why people are slamming Al Gore here. Is it soley because she didn’t win the Nobel Prize or what? Can anyone give information about how she was found out?
Jun 10, 2009 - 12:51 pmShe is a truly wonderful human being that everyone should learn from. One wonders if there is anything like this happening in Darfur.