“Irena Sendler – inconvenient witness of history”

Anna Mieszkowska works at the Archive of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. She acquires and works out documentation devoted to Polish theatrical life abroad.

In 2003 Mieszkowska met Irena Sendler, who was honored with the title “Righteous Among the Nations” by the Yad Vashem Institute for rescuing 2.5 thousand Jewish children.

This meeting has inspired the author to write a book intending to popularize the exceptional story of Irena Sendler. This novel was authorized by the Polish Righteous herself – the book can be bought on discount during the lecture.

In Poland the novel was published twice: in 2004 under the title „Mother of the Children of the Holocaust” and in 2009 as „The Children of Irena Sendler”. John Kent Harrison’s feature film with Anna Paquin as the Polish Righteous was based on the book by Anna Mieszkowska.

Irena Sendler, Righteous Among the Nations, activist of the underground Council to Aid Jews “Żegota”, working in the Welfare Assistance Department of the Warsaw Administration, saved together with her collaborators 2,500 children during the Second World War.

The children she helped rescue were brought out of the Warsaw ghetto onto the so-called Aryan Side. They received false papers and were placed in Polish orders, orphanages and families.

In 1965 Irena Sendler was awarded with the title of the Righteous Among the Nations for rescuing Jews during the Second World War. In 2007 the Righteous was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She passed away on May 12, 2008 in Warsaw, at the age of 98.

More about Irena Sendler on the portal “Polish Righteous”.