IRENA SENDLER

Early Days

• Born in Poland on February 15, 1910
• Her father was a doctor who died of Typhus
• Studied at Warsaw University until she joined the Polish Socialist Party

Before WWII,I- rena
moved to War-saw

Germany Invades Poland

• In 1939, Irena led a group to make fake documents for Jewish families to flee
• Made at least 3,000 documents for families

In August, 1943, she started helping children

RESCUING JEWISH CHILDREN

• Entered ghettos and checked kids for diseases
• Irena smuggled kids to safety out of ghettos
• Placed them with Polish families
• An estimated 400 kids were saved

Irena wrote down all of the Jewish kids names and hid them in a jar

IRENA GETS DISCOVERED

• The Gestapo police arrested her
• She was severely tortured for info about the jar
• She refused to tell them anything

(Some Jewish children Irena saved in 1943)

HER ESCAPE

• Irena was sentenced to death by the Nazi police
• She found a way to bribe the guards and was freed
• She went into hiding until the war ended

The war ends and Irena comes out of hiding

REUNITING THE CHILDREN

• Irena wanted to reunite the Jewish children she saved with their original families
• But many of the parents had died during the war

Most of the saved Jewish children stayed with their foster families

HER ACHIEVEMENTS

• 1965: A tree was planted in her honor
• 2003: The Pope wrote her a letter
• Nominated for Noble Peace Prize

(The Irena Sendler tree)

THE CHILDREN GIVE THANKS

• In 2007, Irena was ill and unable to leave nursing home
• Several of the Jewish kids she saved traveled to her and gave thanks

On May 12, 2008, Irena Sendler died

HER LEGACY

• A play and book called Life in a Jar was wrote in her honor
• It was later then made into an Oscar nominated movie

The End.

http://www.irenasendler.org