Thursday, February 12, 2009
For once here's one of those circular emails that says Snopes confirms it that's at least mostly correct. The story behind Irena Sendler's deeds can't be told enough. Here is the email [h/t to Phil for forwarding it.]:
A Lady Named Irena
There recently was a death of a 98 year old lady named Irena.
During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.
She had an ulterior motive...
She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German).
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack, (for larger kids).
She also had a dog in the back, that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in, and out of the ghetto.
The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.
During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, and arms, and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out, and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it, and reunited the family.
Most of course had been gassed.
Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes, or adopted.
Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize....
She LOST.
Al Gore won, for doing a slide show on Global Warming.
Actually, Irena Sendler was Polish, not German. She wasn't a plumber, she was a social worker who passed herself off as a nurse. She was also a Roman Catholic (not mentioned, but topical). She was nominated for the Nobel, though many people are. The juxtaposition of Sendler and Gore is somewhat arbitrary, though it does point up the fact that for every yutz like Gore (or Carter, or Arafat) who gets the prize, there's someone of true courage and gravity who doesn't.
It's OK, though, she got a much better prize than the Nobel, having been inducted as one of The Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem in 1965.
