Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic nurse and social worker, was a true Holocaust hero and the definition of an upstander. Living in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Irena joined the underground resistance and helped rescue over 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. To preserve their identities, she carefully recorded each child’s real name and family history, burying the records in jars for safekeeping. 

Sendler was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death by the Gestapo in 1943, but she escaped, assumed her own fake identity, and continued her work helping Jewish people in Warsaw. 

Rightfully, Sendler became one of the first “Righteous Gentiles” to be honored on the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. Her quiet heroism, and her determination to stand up for those who were being persecuted, left a legacy of courage and humanity that continues to inspire new generations.

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