The Irena Sendler Family & Cast
Learn more about the people involved...Amy and Scott Karlen: Friends of the Project
Amy, Scott and their daughters have taken an active part in Life in a Jar/the Irena Sendler Project. They have traveled from their Florida home to Kansas on several occasions and even help with formatting the Life in a Jar ‘news.’ The family has become close friends to the Life in a Jar cast.
Kinga Krzeminska: Translator, Involved with Holocaust Education
Kinga was the translator for Irena Sendler over the last several years of Irena’s life. She has been a great help to Life in a Jar and assists the Children of the Holocaust organization.
She did her Master’s Thesis on the Holocaust as a subject in modern Poland. She served an intership in the summer of 2008 at the U.S. Holcaust Memorial Museum.
Noah Fischer: Role of Nazi and Dr. Wos
Noah is a junior at Illinois State University. He has been in the play for five years and is Mary Fischer’s brother.
He has taken the role of Dr. Wos and the Nazi soldier in the performance. His older brother, Joseph, played those roles for three years. Noah is studying Psychology and Political Science at ISU.
McCutcheon High School: Collaborative Cast Members in Indiana with Life in a Jar
McCutcheon High School students in Lafayette, IN, first presented Life in a Jar in 2009 and collaborated with some of the original cast members in 2011 to present Life in a Jar at the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis, IN—an unprecedented production combining the original cast and students from another high school.
As a result of the collaboration, Norm Conard invited the McCutcheon students to tour the Midwest to present Irena’s story. With a rotating group of students who are committed to help repair the world, the McCutcheon cast, Life in a Jar’s “second generation,” has presented in several areas of Indiana and is in the process of scheduling other presentations around the state.
To schedule a presentation in the Midwest, please contact teacher Stella Schafer at saschafer@tsc.k12.in.us.
Marcel Fremder: Friend of the Project
Marcel is a child survivor who has become an important friend of the project.
He sponsored our summer tour of New York City in 2004, visited Irena in Warsaw, and constantly supports and encourages our group.
Ken Reinhardt and Elizabeth Eckford: Diversity Project
Ken Reinhardt and Elizabeth Eckford are two people who make a difference in the world and are a part of our Sendler family.
Ken Reinhardt was a senior at Little Rock Central High School in 1957 when President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne from Ft Campbell, Ky, to insure the enrollment of nine black teenagers. The all white school of 2,000 students contained a core group of segregationists and their parents who harrassed and terrorized the LR9 all year.
Ken’s friendship of the nine, particularly with Elizabeth Eckford, resulted in similar but less severe harassment for Ken and his family. A career banker, now retired and living in South Carolina, Ken was never asked about this experience until 1996 when three Uniontown High School students discovered his role as part of a National History Day project. They reunited Ken with Elizabeth Eckford at National History Day in Maryland.
Covered by the national news media, Ken and Elizabeth have been asked to speak together in several states. Ken and his wife, Judy, remain in close contact with Elizabeth to this day. Ken and Elizabeth recently spoke in Kansas City, with Ann Williams, a second white student mentioned by the LR9, as having befriended them. Ken and Ann are a focal point of a new exhibit at the Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott, Kansas.
Tomasz and Tosia Kasprzak: Friends in Poland
Tomasz is the right hand of Elzbieta Ficowska and the Children of the Holocaust organization.
He and his wife, Tosia, were helpful in many areas on the 2005 and 2008 Life in a Jar trip to Poland. Tomasz is working on his Ph.D. in the teaching of tolerance in Polish public schools, Tosia is a translator. Tomasz and Tosia were a favorites of the students in Poland.
John & Jenny Isenberg: Friends of the Project
John and his wife Jenny, have been wonderful supporters of Life in a Jar.
John has visited Irena in Poland and was amazed at the beautiful nature of this courageous woman. John and Jenny are active in the Jewish congregations of Kansas City and John has his own company. In this picture, John is standing by Irena’s tree at Yad Vashem in Israel. John recently helped sponsor our latest trip to Poland and continues to ‘change the world.’
Travis Stewart: Student Member
Andrzej and Ania Ficowska-Teodorowicz: Friends in Warsaw
Ania is the daughter of Elzbieta Ficowska (saved by Irena, President of the Children of the Holocaust Organization in Poland, and active in Irena’s care).
She and her husband Andrzej are favorites of the Life in a Jar students. Ania has visited Uniontown and the entire family plans a future trip. Their two sons, Carl and Phillip are also favorites of the students. The family has hosted the Life in a Jar group several times in Poland.