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Early Life
Irena Krzyanowska was born in Otwock, Poland on Febuary 15,1910. Her parents were Stanislaw who was a medical doctor and Janina Krzyanowska. Irena was later on married to Mieczyslaw Sendler. Throughout her life she had a total of 3 kids. Janina, Andrzej and Adam Zgrzembdski. Which she had with her second husband Stefan Zgrzembski. -
The Holocaust
January, 1933 marked the rise of the German Nazis and the Holocaust. The Holocaust is known as the mass murder of approximately 6 million Jews. The Germans believed that they were more superior rather than the Jewish who were "unworthy of life". The Nazis didn't only single out the Jews they also aimed at who were sick, healthy, rich, poor, aged, and young. The Germans had a major hate for anyone who did not believe in their religion or what they did. -
The Rise of Hitler
On January 20,1933 Adolf Hitler was nominated as the Chancellor of Germany. He then appointed himself as "Furher" , which is the German name for leader. Before Hitler was the supreme leader anti-Semitism already existed. Hitler just made the hate for Jews more prominent. Hitler also blamed the Jews for the Country's
unsuccessful battle in 1918. -
The Beginning
As WWII began on September 1,1939 Irena was a social worker for Warsaw. Since she was a social worker she gave help to the people who were in need. This included supervising the city's "canteens", which provided things necessary to live during the war. -
Start of WWII
World War Two started out as the German's having 1.5 million troops, 2,000 tanks and 1,900 aircraft. The Polish had less than a million men and less than 500 aircraft. The German had a great advantage. By September 7, the Polish army was decreased by more than half. Two weeks later the Polish capital, Warsaw surrendered because of great defeat from the German's. This was just the spark of WWII. -
Working Together
Irena being a social worker had the advantage of having connections to people who were inside the Warsaw Ghetto. So she teamed up with people who also wanted to fight against the capurating and killing of Jews. Together they worked with each other to smuggle out mostly Jewish children. They were able to successfully save 2500 children from the Ghetto. -
Completing her Job
After Irena had successfully gathered the Jewish children she would risk her life by hiding them in her friends home. It was the Piotrowski home that saved their lives. These children would call this their home for the remainder of the war. There they would be fed, clothed and carefully hidden from the Germans. Having them hiding in a friends house, she hoped they would not get caught. -
Warsaw Ghetto
The Nazis had created a Ghetto which they had forced 400,000 Jews into this confined area. Considering that 400,000 Jews were living in terrible conditions thousands died because of disease and starvation. This area was similar to a jail, but worse. It had brick walls, barbed wire and armed guards. If anyone managed to escape but was then caught was shot right then and there. The Warsaw Ghetto was the single largest Ghetto in Poland. -
Smuggling Jews
Irena used many ways to smuggle out Jews in order for them to not be caught. Irena and Zegota used ways like hiding them under a stretcher in a ambulance, putting the ones who could fit in a suitcase and by simply leading them through the underground passages or sewer system. Without Zegota's creative ways some would not of lived. -
Auschwitz
The Auschwitz concentration camp was the largest camp to ever exist. Auschwitz was similar to Treblinka, but Auschwitz killed more than 1 million Jews. This camp started out as just a detention center for political prisoners. It was later converted into yet another concentration camp. At the camp Jews were exterminated, used for slave labor or were experimented on. They experimented on twins in which they injected chemicals into their eyes, sewed them together and put chemicals in their body's. -
On the streets
Irena did many things to prevent the Jewish children from being caught. Many of these Jewish children escaped from the Ghetto and were being sought by the Gestapo. Irena would repeatedly go out to the streets and search for the children in need. She would tell them "You are not Rachel but Roma". She would also teach them little polish prayers to keep them safe. Irena would treat them like her own children. Her and many others took risks by doing this and by hiding them. -
Names in a Jar
During the war Irena Sendler's goal was to reunite Jewish kids with their parents. She would try to save the children first which meant she had to take them from their parents.The parents would ask if they would survive or not. She told them she could not guarantee that they would live, but that she would try he hardest. In order to reunite them she had to keep track of who their parents were.She kept the list of names in a jar, buried in the ground. Once the war was over she would reunite them. -
Treblinka
The leader of the SS wanted to start distributing Jews to concentration camps. They were told that they would be transferred to a work camp, but they knew it would end in death. One major camp named Treblinka held more than 265,000 Jews. The ones who were not sent to work were forced into the so called "showers". Once they exceeded the amount of people to go into the gas chambers they killed them using carbon monoxide.Treblinka killed more than 875,000 Jews in total. -
Żegota
Since Irena had the passion to help Jews, she joined a council called Żegota. Żegota was a underground organization who worked to give shelter, food and medicine to those in need. Their main goal was to successfully rescue Polish Jews and to aid them in living through the war. Irena herself mainly tried to rescue Jewish Orphans. Many risks came with joining the group and by rescuing the Jews. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
As 265,000 Jews were sent to Treblinka the 60,000 left at Warsaw began planning attacks against the Nazis. A major group called ZOB (Jewish Combat Organization) was able to acquire a small amount of supplies they would use against the Nazis. Once the Nazis came to transfer more Jews the ZOB unit attacked. Battle lasted for several days before the Nazis retreated. They ended up being overthrown by the Germans, which caused most of the Jews to be executed. -
Getting Caught
On October 20,1943 Irena Sendler was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Pawiak Prison. Since Irena was loyal to Zegota she did not reveal any information regarding her council. Irena would not tell them anything therefore the Nazis abused her. Not long after being captured she was sentenced to death. Before being executed her fellow Zegota members persuaded the officers to free her. But during that time she had escaped. -
Continuing her passion
Once Sendler was released she continued to free Jews within a underground organization. Since she was already arrested once she had to be even more careful, causing her to go into hiding. She continued her job with the Jews until WWII ended. -
End of WWII
After more than 6 years of war, WWII had finally ended. The Japanese signing the paper of surrender marked the end of the war. More than 60 million people were killed which was about 3% of the population. There were many opinions on who one the war. The war also changed who had the global power. From Europe to the United States and Soviet Union. -
After the war
Long after the war ended Irena was named as a righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. He was part of Israel's Holocaust memorial organization She was rewarded because of her actions brave during the war. -
Irena Sendler's death
At the age of 98, Irena Sendler was pronounced dead. She died because of natural causes. She was buried in Warsaw, which was close to the town she was born in. Irena and her group Żegota managed to save 2500 Jewish children. Without their courageous acts some kids would not of had the chance of living.
