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Irena Sendler

Polish resistance fighter and Holocaust rescuer (1910-2008) · Poland · Educators · Died at 98

Irena Sendler is read about 1,072 times a day, in 64 languages.

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She smuggled Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto in toolboxes, ambulances, and body bags - then buried their real names in jars under an apple tree so they might someday find their families again.

ActivistsActivistActivism20th Century

A life in dates

2010Jan Karski Courage to Care AwardAward2008Died12 May 20082007“Over a half-century has passed since the hell of the Holocaust, but its spectre still hangs over the world and doesn’t allow us to forget.”In their wordsLetter to the Polish Senate (2007), quoted in "Irena Sendler: An Unsung Heroine" by Louis Bülow (2007)

Honorary Citizen of TarczynAwardHonorary Citizen of WarsawAwardOrder of the SmileAward2006“I am the only person still alive of that rescuing group but I want everyone to know that, while I was coordinating our efforts, we were about twenty to twenty five people.”In their wordsQuoted in "The Long Path to Irena Sendler - Mother of the Holocaust Children", by Joachim Wieler Social Work & Society, vol. 4 (2006)

2005“I was brought up to believe that a person must be rescued when drowning, regardless of religion and nationality.”In their words3 March 2005As quoted in "Holocaust heroine's survival tale" by Adam Easton in BBC News (3 March 2005)

“Let me stress most emphatically that we who were rescuing children are not some kind of heroes. Indeed, that term irritates me greatly. The opposite is true.”In their words3 March 2005As quoted in "Holocaust heroine's survival tale" by Adam Easton in BBC News (3 March 2005)

2003Order of the White EagleAward2001Commander with Star of the Order of Polonia RestitutaAward1996Commander of the Order of Polonia RestitutaAward1991Honorary Citizen of IsraelAward1965Righteous Among the NationsAward1910Born15 February 1910

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Irena Sendlerowa 1942Irena Sendlerowa 194220251016 130028 Piotrków Trybunalski. 3. Maja 14 Avenue. The tenement house where Irena Sendler lived20251016 130028 Piotrków Trybunalski. 3. Maja 14 Avenue. The tenement house where Irena Sendler livedHoly Land Pilgrimage 2017 P090 Yad Vashem Irena Sendlerowa TreeHoly Land Pilgrimage 2017 P090 Yad Vashem Irena Sendlerowa TreeHoly Land Pilgrimage 2017 P091 Yad Vashem Irena Sendlerowa TreeHoly Land Pilgrimage 2017 P091 Yad Vashem Irena Sendlerowa TreeIrena Sendler grave Powazki Cemetery in Warsaw 2016Irena Sendler grave Powazki Cemetery in Warsaw 2016Irena Sendlerowa 1942 Color RestoreIrena Sendlerowa 1942 Color RestoreIrena Sendlerowa 1967Irena Sendlerowa 1967Irena Sendlerowa 2005-02-13 zoom (cropped)Irena Sendlerowa 2005-02-13 zoom (cropped)

In their own words 6

,
Irena Sendler
,
6 statements, newest first

  1. Over a half-century has passed since the hell of the Holocaust, but its spectre still hangs over the world and doesn’t allow us to forget.

    2007, Letter to the Polish Senate (2007), quoted in "Irena Sendler: An Unsung Heroine" by Louis Bülow (2007), Own words

  2. I am the only person still alive of that rescuing group but I want everyone to know that, while I was coordinating our efforts, we were about twenty to twenty five people.

    2006, Quoted in "The Long Path to Irena Sendler - Mother of the Holocaust Children", by Joachim Wieler Social Work & Society, vol. 4 (2006), Own words

  3. I was brought up to believe that a person must be rescued when drowning, regardless of religion and nationality.

    Mar 3, 2005, As quoted in "Holocaust heroine's survival tale" by Adam Easton in BBC News (3 March 2005), Own words

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Awards

Jan Karski Courage to Care Award2010
Order of the Smile2007
Honorary Citizen of Warsaw2007
Honorary Citizen of Tarczyn2007
Order of the White Eagle2003
Commander with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta2001
Commander of the Order of Polonia Restituta1996
Honorary Citizen of Israel1991
Righteous Among the Nations1965
Cross of Merit (Poland)
Gold Cross of Merit
Order Ecce Homo
Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta

In their orbit

Father: Stanisław Krzyżanowski

About this person

Irena Sendler spent the 1930s as a social worker connected to the Free Polish University, then joined Warsaw's Department of Social Welfare in 1935. When the Germans sealed the ghetto, she and a network of mostly women used their access to move children past the walls with forged papers and placed them in Polish homes, orphanages, and convents. The Gestapo arrested her in October 1943. She hid the list of names and locations before they came, endured torture, revealed nothing, and was sentenced to death - then walked free the day of her execution after Żegota bribed her guards. She kept working in social services through Poland's communist decades. Israel named her Righteous Among the Nations in 1965; Poland gave her the Order of the White Eagle near the end of her life.

Country
Poland
Category
Educators
Type
Educator
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1910 to 2008 · aged 98

Educators from Poland 6

Kazimiera Bujwidowa49.7Maria Grzegorzewska49.0Karolina Lanckorońska48.4Natalia Tułasiewicz47.0Jerzy Toeplitz45.0Stanisław Pigoń44.5

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