I Sendler page 1

I Sendler page 1 by ric Gustafson


When Irena Sendler got into the black prison car, she knew exactly where it was going. Szucha Avenue was the address of the Warsaw Gestapo Headquarters. Irena knew how brutal the place was. It was October 21 1943 and it was early morning. She was sleeping soundly when 11 Gestapo agents pounded on the door. For hours, the agents tore up her apartment. They were looking for the lists she had of the children. The lists contained on cigarette paper were the names and addresses of thousands of Jewish children she had saved. She had given the lists to her friend Janka just before the raid. Irena knew she would be killed. No one ever returned from Gestapo Headquarters. By late 1943, Warsaw was in ruins. Earlier in the spring, the Jewish Ghetto was leveled to rubble. She had been part of a resistance cell started at the Polish Free University. She knew that if she talked, all the children she had saved might be killed. No matter what the Gestapo did to her, she would not talk.


research help: ' Irena's Children' by Tilar Mazzeo


Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric