Moral Courage: Irena Sendlerowa, Who Saved Jewish Children in WW2 in Poland

by Phyllis Chesler
Pajamas Media
April 20, 2009

http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/449/moral-courage-irena-sendlerowa-who-saved-jewish

Excerpt:

Wherever radical evil openly flourishes, that’s where miracles also abound. A hero is someone who risks her own life in order to save another person’s life. A hero may know that what she is doing is dangerous, that she herself might be caught and punished, she might be very afraid–but her fear does not stop her. Such actions go beyond speaking out, beyond documenting the atrocities. It is important to teach our children that high-risk courage, self-sacrifice, morality, and goodness do exist. The world may not always do so.

Indeed, for nearly fifty years, the world forgot about the heroic Irena Sendler. She was “discovered” by four Uniontown, Kansas high school students in 1999. Their research, which they turned into a play, finally brought her story to world attention. When the students visited Sendler in 2001, she was already in her nineties, in poor health, and living in poverty.

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