We all dream of raising our children to grow up and do incredible things. So to say that Irena Sendler’s father would be proud of her would be an understatement.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1910, Irena would one day become a hero to thousands. But as a child, she held tight to one particular lesson from her father: to always help those in need.
When she was only seven years old, Irena’s father died. But his influence would lead her for the rest of her life.
Like father, like daughter, Irena grew up to become a nurse because her father was a doctor. She knew it was one of the greatest ways she could help those in need.
Facebook
She also went on to become a social worker in the Warsaw Social Welfare Department, where once again she was able to help families in need by distributing food and clothing.
The early years of her adult life came during World War II, and the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
Jewish families were being sought after, captured, tortured and killed, and one of the largest concentration camps was in Irena’s hometown of Warsaw. At its peak, the Warsaw Ghetto imprisoned an estimated 400,000 Jews.
Facebook
In the interest of helping the needy, Irena, a devout Catholic, made the dangerous decision to risk her own life to save Jews. She joined an underground resistance organization that worked to rescue persecuted Jews in German-occupied Poland.
She worked tirelessly to organize the escape of Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. The escape meant Jewish families would be relinquishing their children to a complete stranger. But staying in the camp was a fatal option.
Facebook
She would often pretend that the children were sick, and brought them to hospitals outside of the Ghetto. But later on, extensive Nazi surveillance meant that Irena had to be creative in her escape methods. She’d hide children in anything she could carry—garbage bags, suitcases and even coffins. Ironically, the caskets that typically housed the dead became the safe havens that preserved the lives of thousands.