Irena's Children: The extraordinary woman who saved thousands of children from the Warsaw Ghetto by Tilar J. Mazzeo
Time and again I come back to the events of this dark period in European history. Seeking out some truth may be, as to why it happened in a society that saw its self as part of the enlightened world. But there are a great many other factors to take into account as to why what happened, happened. But this time I have not gone in search of answers to this question but rather looking to find the people that saw what was taking place and despite all personal danger to themselves went out of their way to try and save others. Now when it comes to Irena she was already stuck between a rock and a hard place. After the invitation of Poland by Nazi forces polish citizens were already classed as second-class citizens. Stripped of many of their rights and freedoms, they were seen as another source of slave labor. So for Irena to not only be Polish but also to be working as a social worker for the now-imprisoned Jewish community left her pretty much at the bottom of the bottom.
It was only a few months ago that I first heard the name, Irena Sendler when I happened upon a film about her starring Anna Paquin called The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. Me being me meant that even during the film I was already google to find out more about her and her life. The problem is when you going in search of books about real people which one do you go for. There always seem to be tons of them and they all try and persuade you that theirs is the only true account and how they know best about that person's life. Now for whatever reason, my brain decided this was the one it settled on to read. Maybe in part, this is down to the author's decision not to try and sugar coat her life. That she was human with flaws of her own but that it all goes to give a better idea of who she was as a whole. Too often we are told such people are more than human so mythical figures to not be looked at too closely for fear that this image might start to fall apart. Rather than the all too human people they were, just trying to do right in a world turned upside down.
To me, it was helpful that Mazzeo broke down Irena's life into groups of years. It not only allowed me to get a better grasp of all she and her friends went through in their plight to save Jewish children but also what else was happening to Poland as a whole during this time. Hers is a story that I found to be very engaging, she seems to be have been someone who saw the wrongdoing happening and said to herself enough is enough. In her own words, she never saw herself as a hero just someone who was witnessing what was happening and realized she could do something about it. Tirelessly she worked at her task in secret trying to save as many children as she could with her friends in the hope that at least some of them might survive the onslaught that was happening to the Jewish people. I believe it takes a very strong will of character to do what she did even knowing the harm the could come crashing down not only on her at any moment but also on those who helped her and created a network to help smuggle the children out of Nazi hands.
Mazzeo for me did an amazing job not only in telling Irena's story but also in the people she sought out to help her in this endeavor. She has strived to give us the readers as much of an honest account of what took place as anyone who wasn't there could hope to do. Irena was an imperfect person trying to do what she could to help those who could not help themselves. For me I think hers is a life worth learning about. It goes to show in the darkest of nights there are still people out there fighting to bring the dawn light back to the world no matter the personal cost. We can all learn a thing to two from people like Irena.
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