Irena

Irena Sendler

My latest Afrikaans project requires me to chose someone who has done something truly inspiring and is therefore heroic in my eyes.

I thought long and hard about who I wanted to speak about... I contemplated presenting someone I knew a lot about to make my job easier but then today whilst roaming the likes of good old Facebook, I came across a mention about this incredible individual and decided to read up about what she had accomplished. 

Irena Sendler was a Polish Roman Catholic nurse/social worker. She served in the Polish Underground during World War 11 and was head of the children's section of Zegota- an underground resistance organisation in German-occupied Warsaw. 

Irena knew what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews and with the help of about two dozen members, Irena courageously smuggled more Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. She smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried and she carried a Burlap sack in the back of her truck for older children. She also had a dog in the back that she carefully trained to bark when Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. Naturally, the soldiers wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises. She then provided these children with false ID's and with housing outside the ghetto. She tried to locate any parents that may have survived the war and reunited many families, alas, most of the children's parents had been gassed. The children whose parents she was unsuccessful finding or who died she placed into foster homes or made sure they were adopted.

The Nazis eventually discovered her activities, tortured her by breaking her legs and arms and beat her severely and sentenced her to death. Being the strong woman she clearly was, Sendler managed to evade execution and survived the war. 

She saved more than 2,500 Jewish children from being killed by the Germans during the Holocaust. 

In 2007, Irena Sendler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She lost against Al Gore... for a slideshow about global warming. (Don't even get me started on this.)

What a phenomenal woman she was. Makes me feel oh so very small. She died on May 12th in 2008 at  the age of 98 and her life will be remembered by thousands on that day.

Sendler with some of the individuals she saved

Afrikaans projects do not usually keep me thriving with interest but this definitely will. 

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