Irena Sendler

Also known as Jolanta, Irena Zgrzembski, Irena Sendlerowa, Irena Stanisława Krzyżanowska, Irena Stanisława Sendler

Polish resistance fighter and Holocaust rescuer (1910-2008)

AI overview

Irena Sendler was a Polish woman who risked her life during the Holocaust to rescue over 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, smuggling them to safety and arranging for them to be hidden with Polish families and in convents. Her actions saved thousands of lives during one of history's darkest periods, and she is remembered as a heroic figure in the fight against Nazi genocide.

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Irena
Gender: female
Citizenship: Poland
Place of birth: Warsaw
Place of death: Warsaw
Occupation: clinical nurse specialist
Educated at: University of Warsaw
Political party: Polish Socialist Party
Languages spoken: Polish
Religion: Latin Church
Image: Irena Sendlerowa 2005-02-13 zoom.jpg
Number of children: 3

Show 10 more facts

manner of death: natural causes
place of burial: Powązki Cemetery
Commons category: Irena Sendler
date of death: 2008-05-12
Commons gallery: Irena Sendler
birth name: Irena Krzyżanowska
name in native language: Irena Sendlerowa
depicted by: The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
date of baptism: 1917-02-02
date of birth: 1910-02-15

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Encyclopedic overview

Irena Stanisława Sendler (née Krzyżanowska; 15 February 1910 – 12 May 2008), operating under the nom de guerre Jolanta, was a Polish humanitarian, social worker, and nurse who served in the Polish Underground Resistance during World War II in German-occupied Warsaw. From October 1943 she was head of the children's section of Żegota, the Polish Council to Aid Jews (Polish: Rada Pomocy Żydom).

In the 1930s, Sendler conducted her social work as one of the activists connected to the Free Polish University. From 1935 to October 1943, she worked for the Department of Social Welfare and Public Health of the City of Warsaw. During the war she pursued conspiratorial activities, such as rescuing Jews, primarily as part of the network of workers and volunteers from that department, mostly women. Sendler participated, with dozens of others, in smuggling Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and then providing them with false identity documents and shelter with willing Polish families or in orphanages and other care facilities, including Catholic nun convents, saving those children from the Holocaust.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Irena Sendler” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.