Irena Sendler by ADDISON CLEMENS

All About Her

addisonclemens — 2025-05-12 15:03:18 UTC

Family

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She was raised by her parents in Otwock, Poland as an only child. Her parents raised her to respect and love people regardless of their ethnicity or social status.

Picture of her Parents

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She Had Two Children & a Grandchild

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Her daughter, Janka, still lives in Warsaw, Poland, and her son Adam passed away in 1999 on September 23rd. Adam’s daughter, Agniesa is Irena’s granddaughter.

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Start of the War

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When WWII in 1939, started Irena began to help the city's Jews, providing them with food and water.

Resisting

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Irena began helping Jews by offering them food and shelter.

When the Warsaw Ghetto was erected in 1940, Irena could no longer help isolated Jews. The Ghetto was an area the size of New York’s Central Park and 450,000 Jewish people were forced into this area.

Irena and her helpers made over 3,000 false documents to help Jewish families before she joined Zegota and the children’s division.

She was Caught

addisonclemens — 2025-05-12 19:32:32 UTC

Only a few days after being appointed head of the Zegota's children section on the 20th of October 1943. She was arrested and sent to the Piawiak prison by the Gestapo (German secret state police). The Gestapo brutally beat and tortured her.

Her Alias (Codename) For Zegota

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Jolanta

The Main Ways Children Were Smuggled Out of the Ghetto

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Using an ambulance a child could be taken out hidden under the stretcher
Escape through the courthouse. Irena used the old courthouse on the edge of the Warsaw Ghetto (still standing) as one of the main routes of smuggling children out.

A child could be taken out using the sewer pipes or other secret underground passages.
A trolley could carry out children hiding in a sack, in a trunk, a suitcase or something similar.
if a child could pretend to be sick or was actually very ill, it could be legally removed using the ambulance.

Remaining Years of the War

addisonclemens — 2025-05-12 19:41:43 UTC

During the remaining years of the war, she lived hidden, just like the children she rescued. Irena was the only one who knew where the children were to be found. When the war was finally over, she dug up the bottles and began the job of finding the children and trying to find a living parent.

Quote

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 12:55:45 UTC

"I was taught by my father that when someone is drowning you don't ask if they can swim, you just jump in and help."- Irena Sendler

What Was The Zegota

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The Council for Aid to Jews (codenamed “Żegota”) was an underground rescue organization of Poles and Jews. It operated in German-occupied Poland from December 4, 1942, to January 1945 and was supported by the Polish government-in-exile. Żegota’s main objective was to coordinate efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution and murder.

What She Did for The Jewish Children

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 13:16:01 UTC

She saved about 2,500 Jewish children in Poland. She helped secure hiding places for Polish Jews. She also delivered money, food, false identity documents, and medical assistance to those in her care. She found hiding places for Jews out of the ghetto in orphanages, covenants, schools, hospitals, and private homes. She provided each child with a new identity.

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Her Education

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After her father’s death, many leaders in the Jewish community helped to fund Irena’s education, which lead her to study at Warsaw University in Polish Literature.

After The Warsaw Ghetto Was Established

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Once it was established in the year 1940, Irena then started to smuggle out orphaned children. She used her status as a social worker, in addition to documentation from an employee at the Contagious Disease (who also became a part of the underground group Zegota) to gain access into the Warsaw Ghetto, and access to the orphaned children who lived in it.

Awards Received After War

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She received numerous awards for her outstanding bravery and courage; these included the previously mentioned Yad Vashem’s Righteous Among the Nations, and Jan Karski’s Valor and Courage. In addition to these, Irena was also awarded Poland’s Order of the White Eagle, and has been a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Life After War

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 13:22:42 UTC

Irena then spent the later part of her life cared for in Warsaw by a woman called Elzbieta Ficowska. Eizbieta was one of the children (six months old at the time) Irena had smuggled out of city’s ghetto.

Quote From After The War

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“We who were rescuing children are not some kind of heroes. That term irritates me greatly. The opposite is true – I continue to have qualms of conscience that I did so little. I could have done more. This regret will follow me to my death.”

The Jar of Names She Kept

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She carefully recorded the childrens original names and placements in code so that relatives could find them after the war. “The names of the saved children I wrote down on thin tissue paper.”

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Video by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Death

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May 12, 2008 at 98 years old in Warsaw

Nameday

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October 20 (A nameday, is a day celebrated by people who share the same first name, typically in honor of a saint or biblical figure associated with that name. It's a cultural tradition in many European and Latin American countries, often considered a secondary celebration to birthdays.

Marriage

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 15:10:02 UTC

In 1931 she married Mieczyslaw Sendler but that marriage ended in divorce. In 1947 she married Stefan Zgrzembski. He died in 1957. Later in 1961 she remarried Mieczyslaw Sendler, but their reunion didn't last long, 10 years later they divorced again.

Her Time At University

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 15:13:42 UTC

While at university, Irena disagreed with the ghetto bench system that had already been established in some of the universities prior to the war. In reaction to this, she vandalised her grade card and was consequently put on a three year-long suspension from the university.

Father

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 15:19:31 UTC

He was a physician that died from typhus that he contracted during an epidemic in 1917. He was the only doctor in the town of Otwock who would treat the poor, mostly Jewish community of this tragic disease. As he was dying he told 7 year old Irena, "If you see someone drowning you must try to rescue them, even if you cannot swim."

Great Grandfather

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Irena's great Grandfather led a rebellion against the Czars.

Born

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February 15, 1910 in Warsaw, Poland. She was born as Irena Krzyzanowska to Dr. Stanislaw Krzyanowski, a physician, and his wife, Janina.

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Background Picture

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It's a picture of some of the children she saved.

What The Zegota Members Did

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Its members worked clandestinely, often risking their own lives and the lives of their families and friends. Żegota supplied tens of thousands of Polish Jews with fake IDs. The network also identified hiding places and delivered money, medical assistance, and food to thousands of Jews in its care. Yad Vashem has honored the organization and individual Żegota members for their efforts.

Head of The Children's Section of Zegota

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 16:44:56 UTC

In the fall of 1943, Irena was appointed head of Zegota’s children’s section. Irena and her network made sure that each family hiding a child realized the child must be returned to Jewish relatives after the war.

Trying to Return the Children to Their Parents After The War

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 16:50:05 UTC

Almost all the parents of the children Irena saved, died at the Treblinka death camp.

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The German Who Interrogated Her

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 17:10:59 UTC

He was young, very stylish, and spoke perfect Polish. He wanted the names of the Zegota leaders, their addresses and the names of others involved. Irena fed him the version that she and her collaborators had prepared in the event they were captured. The German held up a folder with information of places, times and persons who had informed on her.

Her Sentence From The Germans

addisonclemens — 2025-05-13 17:12:14 UTC

She received a death sentence. She was to be shot.

How She Escaped

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Unbeknown to her, Zegota had bribed the German executioner who helped her escape.

Germans Reaction to Her Escaping

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On the following day the Germans loudly proclaimed her execution. Posters were put up all over the city with the news that she was shot. Irena read the posters herself.

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Books About Her

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Movies About Her

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