The woman who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto

Witness History: World War Two history

Irena Sendler was a Polish social worker who risked her life to save 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War Two.

Irena, a Catholic, was able to enter the ghetto because of her job. She was soon smuggling in food, medicine and clothing; and smuggling out children.

And, as a member of the Zegota underground resistance movement, she recruited others to help. Some children were hidden in suitcases, potato sacks, and even inside coffins. Others escaped through sewers.

In 1943, Irena was caught and tortured by the Gestapo but her supporters bribed a guard and she was released. Irena continued her work under a false name until the end of the war.

In 1965, she was given one of Israel’s highest honours for non-Jews: the title of Righteous among the Nations. She died in 2008 at the age of 98.

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