The Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and World War II broke out in Europe. As the Nazis took over the country, persecution of the Jewish people, which had already begun in Germany, started in Poland, too. All Jewish people, regardless of their age or sex, were made to live in certain areas of the cities known as ghettos. They were forbidden to leave the ghettos and any who tried to do so were killed.

Conditions in the ghettos were very bad. Many of the Jewish people suffered from starvation and disease. As the Nazis regarded the Jewish people as an inferior race, little was done to help them. However, there was a fear that disease might spread from the ghettos to the outside. To keep a check on infections, a very small number of social workers were allowed to enter the ghettos. They were allowed to monitor the situation, but they were not allowed to help. If they helped the Jewish people, it would have meant severe punishment for them and their families. One of these social workers was Irena Sendler.

Irena was born in the Polish capital of Warsaw in 1910. As a social worker she helped to provide food and other necessities to the poor in Warsaw. Many of those she helped were Jewish people who, after the Nazi invasion, were sent to live in the Warsaw ghetto. Irena knew the risks, but she couldn’t bear to turn her back on these poor people, who were suffering even though they had done nothing to deserve it. She was eager to enter the ghetto and to help the people there.

Helping the weak and innocent was something that she had learned from her father. Irena’s father, a doctor, had died treating poor Jewish patients in an epidemic in 1917. He once said to her, “If you ever see someone drowning, you must jump into the water and try to save them. You must do this even if you cannot swim.” Irena realized later that he had told her that she must always help the weak, even if she thought she was weak herself. Now, in the ghetto, Irena was able to put this into practice.

Some of the weakest people in the ghettos were the children and it was the children that Irena and several others decided to save. This was extremely risky and extremely difficult. First, all exits from the ghetto were watched. Second, anyone leaving was thoroughly searched. Finally, anyone caught helping Jewish people was shot. Irena and several others decided that in spite of this they would work together to take children secretly out of the ghetto to safety. Irena helped over 1,250 children to escape. Children were hidden in boxes and bags. They were carried out of the ghetto under piles of vegetables and among old clothes. Some small children were even taken out of the ghetto hidden under Irena’s skirt.

On one occasion Irena had a little girl hidden under the back seat of her car. Irena told her to be silent. She was very good, even though she was very sick with a cough. However, as they were leaving the ghetto, the car was stopped by some Nazi soldiers. Irena sat in silence while the soldiers checked the trunk and under the car. Just then, the little girl started to cough. The poor child tried to stop, but she coughed and coughed. Surely she would be discovered! What should Irena do? Was this the end?

“What is that?” one of the soldiers said, and then looked with concern at Irena. She was coughing loudly and continuously. “You need to see a doctor!” he said. He told her that she should be careful. He said that she might catch a bad disease from “those dirty Jews.” “Thank you,” Irena said to the soldier, and drove out of the ghetto. The child was safe.

Irena’s luck did not last much longer. In 1943 she was arrested by the Nazis. They questioned her about the Jewish children, but she told them nothing. They tortured her, but even under immense pain and suffering she still wouldn’t tell them anything at all. Finally, her friends came to the rescue. In exchange for money, one of her guards agreed to let her escape. For her own safety she was hidden, but even from her hiding place she still managed to help children. It is said that she ultimately helped some 2,500 children.

So what happened to all the children that Irena saved? They were taken to religious institutions and to Polish families. Kind, brave people adopted the children and gave them false identities. For many years, during and after the war, the children grew up as non-Jewish, Polish citizens. Most of them had lost everything, including their whole families. However, Irena understood that it was vital that the children didn’t lose their pasts. They had to know who they were and where they had come from. She made a list of as many children as possible, with their real names, ages, and other information. She hid it in a jar and buried it in the ground so that they could learn about themselves and their families after the war ended.

The children Irena saved called themselves “Irena’s children” and were proud of their hero “mother.” Irena, however, didn’t see herself as a hero at all. “The term ‘hero’ irritates me greatly,” she said in an interview many years after the war. “The opposite is true ... I did so little.” Irena finally saved the lives of some 2,500 children and yet said she had done so little. Do you think she was a hero?