Irena Sendler

A Rescuer of Children

Irena Sendler (1910–2008) was a Polish social worker and humanitarian who served in the Polish resistance during World War II. As a member of Żegota, the Polish Council to Aid Jews, she organized a team of colleagues to smuggle more than 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. She is recognized as one of the most heroic figures of the Holocaust.

Working under the guise of an epidemiologist, Irena used her position to gain entry into the Ghetto. She and her network devised creative and daring methods to save the children, smuggling them out in coffins, ambulances, suitcases, and even through sewer pipes. She meticulously recorded each child's name and their new identity on strips of paper, which she hid in jars and buried in a neighbor's garden. Her hope was to one day return the children to their parents.

Despite being captured and tortured by the Gestapo, she never revealed the location of the children or her network. She was sentenced to death but was saved at the last minute by Żegota. Her selfless acts of courage saved countless lives and her story is a powerful reminder of the profound impact one person can have in the face of unimaginable evil.

"Every child I saved is the justification of my existence on this Earth." - Irena Sendler

Irena Sendler, a beacon of hope during the Holocaust