Early Life and Formative Years
Irena Stanisława Sendler, née Krzyżanowska, was born on February 15, 1910, in Otwock, a small town not far from Warsaw, Poland. Her upbringing was marked by compassion, humanism, and a deep sense of social justice—all of which would define the choices she made during the darkest years of the 20th century.
Her father, Dr. Stanisław Krzyżanowski, was a physician and one of the few in the area willing to treat poor Jewish patients, often without accepting payment. He died in 1917 of typhus, which he contracted while caring for the sick during an outbreak—many of whom were Jewish. This tragic loss shaped Irena’s moral foundation. She later said her father’s final words to her were:
“If you see someone drowning, you must try to save them, even if you cannot swim.”
The Jewish community, in gratitude for her father’s service, offered to help fund her education. Although her mother declined the offer, the gesture left an indelible impression on young Irena, cultivating a lifelong empathy for Jewish people and the marginalized.
She went on to study Polish literature and social welfare at the University of Warsaw, where she began to notice the rise of anti-Semitic sentiment. Irena protested against the university’s introduction of the ghetto benches—a segregated seating policy for Jewish students—and defaced her grade card in protest. As a result, she was suspended for three years.
Pre-War Social Work
During the interwar period, Irena worked as a social worker and became employed by the Warsaw Department of Social Welfare and Public Health. In this role, she assisted impoverished families, disabled individuals, and the sick—regardless of their religion or ethnicity.
When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, she was 29 years old. Like many others, she faced a moment of reckoning. But instead of retreating into silence or survival, she stepped forward into danger.
The Outbreak of War and the Warsaw Ghetto
When the Nazis occupied Warsaw, they quickly enacted laws that marginalized, persecuted, and segregated the Jewish population. By October 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto was established—a walled zone where more than 400,000 Jews were crammed into less than 1.3 square miles. Disease, starvation, and despair spread rapidly.
Irena, now part of the Polish underground resistance movement, Żegota (the Council for Aid to Jews), could not stand by. Żegota was a clandestine organization, largely unknown even within Poland at the time, created specifically to help Jews. It was funded by the Polish government-in-exile and operated under constant threat of Nazi detection.
Under the pseudonym “Jolanta,” Irena secured a permit from the Nazi-controlled municipality, allowing her to enter the ghetto under the pretense of inspecting for typhus outbreaks. Once inside, she saw firsthand the appalling conditions—children crying from hunger, parents dying in the streets, and bodies piled in corners.
It was then she made an extraordinary decision: she would rescue as many children as she could, no matter the cost.
The Children’s Rescue Operation
The rescue operation was dangerous and meticulously organized. Irena and her team smuggled children out of the ghetto using various clever and daring methods:
- Toolboxes and suitcases for infants
- Ambulances, pretending the children had contagious diseases
- Sacks, garbage bins, and even coffins
- Secret tunnels, courtyards, and church passages
Every child rescued required two sets of false documents: one for their new identity and another for the records. But Irena refused to let these children lose their true selves. She wrote down their birth names, family information, and ghetto addresses on thin tissue paper, rolled them up, and stored them in glass jars. These were then buried beneath an apple tree in a friend’s garden in Warsaw’s Powiśle district.
Children were placed with Polish foster families, in convents, and orphanages—such as the Sisters of the Family of Mary—where they were taught Catholic prayers and lived under assumed identities.
Sendler knew that if she were caught, the punishment would be death—not just for her, but for anyone helping her. Yet she persisted. By 1943, she had personally helped smuggle out approximately 2,500 children.
Capture and Torture
Her luck ran out in October 1943, when she was betrayed by a collaborator and arrested by the Gestapo. Taken to Pawiak Prison, she was subjected to brutal torture, her feet and legs broken. Despite the beatings and interrogations, she refused to name a single child, family, or colleague.
The Gestapo sentenced her to death, and the date was set for her execution. Miraculously, members of Żegota managed to bribe a German guard, and Sendler was released at the last minute. The Nazis, unaware she had survived, printed her name on public execution lists—forcing her to go into hiding.
Even while underground, she resumed her work, continuing to coordinate rescues and preserve the identities of the children she had saved.
Life After the War
When the war ended in 1945, Irena went to retrieve the jars from the garden and attempted to reunite the children with their surviving families. Heartbreakingly, most of the parents had been killed in death camps like Treblinka.
Under Poland’s post-war communist regime, Sendler’s story was suppressed. The government viewed Żegota suspiciously because it had ties to the London-based Polish government-in-exile. As a result, Irena’s acts went largely unrecognized for decades, even within Poland.
She returned to work as a social worker, quietly continuing to help war orphans, the disabled, and the elderly. She rarely spoke of her wartime efforts, and when she did, it was only to say:
“I was not a hero. I just did what had to be done.”
Rediscovery and Global Acclaim
For many years, her name was almost forgotten—until 1999, when a group of Kansas high school students stumbled upon her story while researching Holocaust heroes. They created a play titled “Life in a Jar”, which dramatized Irena’s rescue of Jewish children.
The play gained international attention, and with it came a flood of long-overdue recognition. Irena was now in her late 80s, living in a nursing home, but the world began to acknowledge the magnitude of what she had done.
Honors and Recognition
- 1965 – Named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel
- 2003 – Awarded Poland’s highest honor, the Order of the White Eagle
- 2007 – Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (which ultimately went to Al Gore)
- 2008 – The U.S. Congress and European Parliament both recognized her heroism
She also received the Jan Karski Award for Courage and Heart, and schools and streets were named in her honor in Poland, Israel, Canada, and the United States.
Personal Life and Character
Irena married Stefan Zgrzembski, a fellow resistance member, though they later divorced and remarried briefly. She had three children, only one of whom survived. Throughout her life, Irena lived modestly, never seeking wealth or fame.
Friends described her as sharp-witted, deeply kind, humble, and a little mischievous. Despite enduring war, loss, and torture, she never grew bitter.
She often said:
“Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth.”
Death and Legacy
Irena Sendler passed away on May 12, 2008, at the age of 98, in Warsaw. Her funeral was attended by Holocaust survivors, dignitaries, children, and grateful citizens from around the world.
Her legacy is not simply the 2,500 lives she saved but the ripple effect those lives have created—generations of people who exist today because of her actions.
She remains a symbol of courage, humanity, and resistance against oppression. In a world increasingly divided by fear and hatred, her example reminds us that one person can indeed make an extraordinary difference—not by being fearless, but by choosing to act despite fear.
In Popular Culture
- “The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler” – a Hallmark Hall of Fame film (2009) starring Anna Paquin
- “Life in a Jar” – the original play and educational project
- Numerous books, documentaries, and academic studies continue to explore her life
Stay tuned to inspire4ward for more updates.
