From the Palace of the Foreign Minister of Poland in Warsaw: The 1st Irena Sendler Awards were given out. Irena presented the awards to Robert Szuchta, teacher in Poland, and Mr. Conard. A press conference and reception followed. The ceremonies were held at the Palace of the Foreign Minister, with many dignitaries (including the Israeli Ambassador, German Ambassador and three members of the American Embassy). Television, radio and news media told the story all over Poland, teachers making a difference by teaching the Holocaust, by teaching respect for all people in the spirit of Irena Sendler. Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising spoke, and his words were passionate. We offer our deepest thanks to Metuka Benjamin for her effort in making this possible.
Irena looked lovely; she has such energy and always words of wisdom. Time spent with her is more than precious.
Elzbieta Ficowska put these programs together, doing such a magnificent work. We salute her. Renata Zadjman, Tomasz Kasprzak and Ewa Chalinska (Children of the Holocaust organization) provided helping hands.
Irena’s daughter Janka and many others were at the Thursday awards and reception and at the Friday press conference and reception.
We thank the Minister of Education and the Minister of Foreign Affairs for their assistance.
We’d like to give a big hug to Andreas, Ania, Filip and Karol for all the kindness and love.
Tosia Kasprzak and many others helped with translation. Also a thanks to Justyna, Chris, Ludwik, Jadwiga, Jerzy, Jacek, Dr. Glowinski, Andrew, and so many others….who did we leave out?
More notes from Cincinnati – “Life in a Jar, has been the buzz around the Cincinnati community for the last week, all who saw the performance were inspired.”