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When and where did Irena pass away? Here are twenty six additional facts about Irena Sendler.
Irena passed away on May 12, 2008, in Warsaw, Poland. She was 98 years old.
a. Irena facts: She was born in Warsaw on February 15, 1910.
b. She passed away in Warsaw on May 12, 2008. (Megan Felt has played Irena in the Life in a Jar play for the past six years, her birthday is May 12)
c. She spent her young child hood in Otwock, Poland.
d. Her father was a doctor and passed away with typhus when she was seven years old.
e. Her mother raised Irena in Warsaw.
f. She was an only child.
g. She attended Warsaw University.
h. Sendler is the surname of her first husband.
i. She married Stefan after World War II, he passed away with heart disease in the early 60's.
j. Irena and Stefan had two children, their son Adam passed away with heart disease on
September 23, 1999, the SAME DAY THE LIFE IN A JAR PROJECT STARTED.
k. Irena was dismissed from Warsaw University for failing to comply with Jewish segregation laws.
l. Irena started making false documents for Jewish friends when the war started in 1939.
m. Irena was an administrator at the Warsaw Social Work Department during the war.
n. She had a network of helpers (twenty five at one time) who rescued people (adults and children) from the Warsaw Ghetto, make false papers for them and found hiding.
o. The majority of the rescue work of taking children out of the Warsaw Ghetto was done in the summer of 1942 in a three month period.
p. The first children they took off the streets were orphaned.
q. The network used dozens of ways to rescue children, they even used a dog on a couple of occasions. The most common route was through the old courthouse.
r. The underground group Zegota was founded in the fall of 1942, she became the head of the children's division and they would eventually find hiding for 2,500 children.
s. The hiding of Jews in Warsaw would take place in Polish homes, convents and orphanages.
t. Irena's network of rescuers were almost all social workers, it consisted of 24 women and one man.
u. Irena was caught by the Gestapo and put in Pawiak Prison. She was tortured and had a leg and foot fractured.
v. She had buried some of the names of the children in jars, along with the help of a friend, to reconnect the children to their Jewish families after the war.
w. Zegota bribed a guard to have released in the night to a member of the Underground. She was about to be executed.
x. She remained in hiding throughout the rest of the war.
y. After World War II the connecting of children to family was very difficult because of the large number of Jewish adults killed at Treblinka and other death camps.
z. The communists considered Irena a subversive after the war.
*She was not German as is being mentioned on so many incorrect web sites. FYI-our web site is based on hundreds of interviews with primary sources and a dozen interviews with Irena, plus over fifty letters from Irena and 4,000 pages of total research. Be careful with some websites and their incorrect information.
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Were many of the children re-united with their parents?
Sadly, the answer is no, the vast majority of the parents died at Treblinka. |
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What are the girls who founded the project doing now? How can we contact them?
All four girls are married and have graduated from college. Megan Stewart-Felt is working at the Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott, Kansas. The LMC is an educational foundation developing exciting history projects around the world, using unsung heroes to teach respect of all people. Sabrina Coon-Murphy saw the birth of her first child in April of 2008 and second child in August of 2009.
Elizabeth Cambers-Hutton is living in Missouri and has graduated from college and is married. She is currently teaching history at the high school level. Jessica Shelton-Ripper has graduated from Pittsburg State University and is planning on graduate work in education, her daughter was born in August of 2007 and she is expecting another child next January. All four are still involved with the project.
They can be contacted at: irenasendlerproject@gmail.com or by just clicking on 'contact us' at the web site. Please designate to whom you are writing. |
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What ages were the children Irena saved?
The children were all ages, plus Irena and the Zegota network saved adults also. |
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Was Irena Jewish?
No, Irena was Roman Catholic, but many of her lifetime friends were Jewish. |
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Why wasn't the story of Irena Sendlerowa known?
After World War II the communists took over Poland and branded Irena (for her underground activity and the saving of Jews) a Fascist. When communism fell in Poland, Irena was elderly and the story had been suppressed many years. This is the major reason and there are other lesser answers to this complex question. Importantly, Yad Vashem recognized Irena in the 1960's. |
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When did Irena's story become more widely known?
In 2001, the Life in a Jar students, Mr. Conard, his wife, and several adults went to Poland, to meet Irena and interview many. The Polish Daily News, USAToday, CNN and others covered the story. Irena's name has increased one hundred fold on the Internet, and in writings around the world. The students continue performing Life in a Jar around the world, and continue working with press outlets to share the story of Irena Sendler. |
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How many times have the students performed 'Life in a Jar?' How may we get a presentation in our area?
As of October 1, 2009, the students have presented 271 times, in the U.S., Canada and Poland. Use the Contact Us pull-down on this web site to ask about presentations. Under Events/News you will find a 'Host a Presentation' which tells about some requirements for the presentations. |
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Where are the lists?
Irena gave the lists to Zegota officers shortly after the war. Copies were made, but connecting was very difficult, due to the small number of adult survivors in Poland. Adolph Berman, Director of the underground Zegota, took the lists to Israel. He passed away many years ago. A search is on for what might remain. The Life in a Jar students have about 650 names they have found. Irena continued trying to make contact with the children and did so in the late 1940's, even in the chaos that followed the war. The number of names in the jars was far less than the 2,500 children hidden. |
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What kind of activity are the students in the Irena Sendler Project involved with? Here is a brainstorming list by several students....
Activities include: research on Irena's story,
research on the Holocaust,
answering letters,
answering e-mails,
answering phone messages,
writing child survivors and friends in Poland,
doing interviews,
working with the media,
organizing the files,
discovering names of the 'list,'
updating the web site,
learning about the Jewish religion,
studying acceptance and diversity,
working on the performance,
updating the props,
trying to improve sound and light,
loading and unloading props,
planning future trips,
planning future presentations,
producing study guides for teachers,
updating the press kits for the presentations,
copying flyers,
communicating with future venues,
discussing ways to improve the project,
and discussing ways to make a difference in the world. |
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Which child, of those Irena saved, was she most in touch with?
Irena loved all the children she saved, but Elzbieta Ficowska helped with Irena's care for some time and was very close to her. Elzbieta was saved by the Zegota at 5 months of age. Her story can be seen under The Project pull-down and the Sendler Family section. |
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What impact has the Life in a Jar presentation had, in numbers?
The Life in a Jar cast has presented in twenty one states and three countries. The web site, in a period of six years, has had 1.4 million visitors and 23 million hits. The Life in a Jar study guide and DVD of the play has reached over 100,000 students in over 2,000 schools. Around 1,500 media stories have covered the project. |
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How many times have the Life in a Jar group visited Poland? What were Irena's last words to the group, on May 3, 2008?
The Life in a Jar group have taken five trips to Poland, with at least two visit with Irena each time. Her last words were to the Life in a Jar cast on "May 3, 2008 “You have changed Poland, you have changed the United States, you have changed the world (by bringing Irena’s story to light, Poland has seen great changes in Holocaust education, in the perception of the time and have provided a grand hero for their country and the world). I love you very, very much.”
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What about the number of 2,500 children saved?
This number is from primary sources of the time, although some say the figure was closer to 2,000.
The number includes many children being hidden outside the Ghetto, in the Warsaw area, children
who were already outside the Ghetto. The number of children actually taken out of the Ghetto is less than 1,000. The number of names in the jars can't be authenticated. With a number of rescuers in her network and the chaotic situation, many names were not in the jars. |
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