1910 - 2008
Irena Sendler was a Polish social worker and humanitarian known for her role in rescuing thousands of Jewish children during the Holocaust. As a member of the Polish underground resistance, she helped smuggle children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and provided them with false identities to save them from deportation to Nazi concentration camps. Sendler's courageous efforts were largely unrecognized during her lifetime, but she became a symbol of bravery and compassion in the face of immense adversity.