Title

Irena Sendler Commemorative Card, Poland

Authors

Object ID

2014.1.470

Object Name

Postcard

Date

2010

Files

Description

Printed postcard titled, "Kto ratuje jedno życie, to jakby ratował cały świat" with black and white picture of a young woman.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Irena Sendler (Sendlerova), also known as Jolanta, was a Polish Roman Catholic nurse/social worker who worked in the Polish Underground during World War II. She was the head of the children's section of Zegota in German-occupied Warsaw. She was able, with the help of other members of Zegota, to save the lives of 2,500 children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, as well as securing false identity papers and housing for them. She wrote their birth names and their new names on strips of paper hidden in a jar. Arrested and tortured by the Gestapo in 1943, she refused to divulge the names of her comrades or those of her rescued children. She was sentenced to death by firing squad but was saved by Zegota by bribing the German guards. She lived in hiding yet continued her efforts to help the children. She was honored by Yad Vashem as one of the Polish Righteous Among the Nations. Pope John Paul II also praised her efforts. The recipient of many awards, the Polish Government presented her as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Dimensions

4 x 5 3/4"

Keywords

commemorative, poland, Roman Catholic, Polish Underground, Zegota, Warsaw Ghetto, Gestapo, Nobel Peace Prize

Subcollection

Diplomats, Philatelic

Recommended Citation

"Irena Sendler Commemorative Card, Poland" (2010). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2014.1.470.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/652