Irena Sendler (1910–2008) was a member of the Council for Aid to Jews, codenamed “Żegota.” Żegota was a clandestine rescue organization of Poles and Jews in German-occupied Poland. Supported by the Polish government-in-exile, Żegota coordinated efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution and murder. It operated from 1942 to 1945.
Irena Sendler (Sendlerowa) was working as a social worker in Warsaw when World War II broke out in 1939. After the Nazis forced Warsaw’s Jews to move into the ghetto in the fall of 1940, Irena used her position and prewar network to supply food and offer financial assistance to Jews. By early 1943, Irena had joined Żegota. Żegota members secured hiding places for Polish Jews. They also delivered money, food, false identity documents, and medical assistance to those in their care.
Under the alias “Jolanta,” Irena helped smuggle several hundred Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto. She found hiding places for them in orphanages, convents, schools, hospitals, and private homes. Irena provided each child with a new identity. She carefully recorded their original names and placements in code so that relatives could find them after the war. In the fall of 1943, Irena was appointed head of Żegota’s children's section. Only a few days later, she was arrested by the Gestapo (German secret state police). The Gestapo brutally beat and tortured her. Nonetheless, Irena never revealed the names of the children or her colleagues. She was later released from the Gestapo prison thanks to a bribe organized by her fellow rescuers. Despite the dangers, Irena continued working with Żegota under a new alias.
Irena Sendler survived the war. In 1965, Yad Vashem recognized her as “Righteous Among the Nations.”
In this interview, Irena Sendler describes how she was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo.
No i w ’43 roku , w październiku, w dniu akurat moich imienin, przyszło po mnie Gestapo. Oczywiście zostałam zaaresztowana. Ta pani, która mnie wydała, nie wytrzymała bicia, wydała moje nazwisko, więc oczywiście Niemcy wiedzieli, że ja jestem w jakiejś organizacji, która pomaga Żydom. Bili, torturowali, stąd moje, prawda, chore nogi, i bardzo krótko dostałam wyrok śmierci. Grypsy szły, liściki konspiracyjne między Żegotą a mną na Pawiaku. Żegota robiła wszystko, żeby mnie wydostać. Nie tylko przez sympatię do mnie, ale ja miałam… jedyna osoba, która miałam zaszyfrowane 2,500 dzieci żydowskich umieszczonych w rozmaitych miejscach, w klasztorach, u osób prywatnych. I ta kartoteka była u mnie w domu. Dzięki wielkiemu przypadkowi ona się do rąk niemieckich nie dostała, więc Żegota wiedziała, że jeżeli ja zostanę zabita, to 2,500 dzieci żydowskich nigdy nie trafi do społeczności żydowskiej, dlatego że tej kartoteki nikt nie wiedział, gdzie ona jest zaszyfrowana. Kartoteka to znaczy wąskie paseczki papieru, gdzie było napisane, że powiedzmy Marysia Kowalska to się równa Racheli Rosenberg, ukrytej powiedzmy w klasztorze sióstr takich i takich, prawda. Więc osoba moja była, no, osobą którą zależało żebym ja żyła. Wobec tego Żegota robiła wszystko i Grobelny, żeby mnie z tego Pawiaka wydostać.
Well, in ’43, in October, on my name day as it happened, the Gestapo came for me. Of course, I was arrested. The woman who exposed me couldn’t take the beating, she revealed my name, so of course the Germans knew that I belonged to an organization that was helping Jews. They beat me. Tortured me. Hence, you know, my bad legs. And very quickly I got a death sentence. Illegal communications, clandestine notes, were exchanged between Żegota and me in Pawiak prison. Żegota did everything to get me out. Not only because they liked me, but… I was the only person who had the encoded [names] of 2,500 Jewish children placed in various locations, in convents, with private individuals. And I had this file at home. Thanks to some enormous chance, it never fell into German hands, so Żegota knew that if I were killed, then 2,500 Jewish children would never make their way back to the Jewish community, because nobody knew this file, where it was encoded. By “file” I mean narrow strips of paper that had writing on them, let’s say, “Marysia Kowalska” equals Rachela Rosenberg, who is hidden in, say, such and such a convent, you know. So my person was, well, I was a person they wanted to keep alive. And so Żegota and [Julian] Grobelny did everything to get me out of Pawiak prison.
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![Irena Sendlerowa, a member of Zegota, an underground organization of Poles and Jews that coordinated efforts to save Jews in Nazi-occupied ... [LCID: 89130]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/53741caa-321c-4f32-807c-98031645f151.jpg)