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Irena Sendler was a Polish Catholic Social worker who saved 2, 500 Jewish Children, smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto. She provided them with false documents and sheltered them in different group children's homes outside the Ghetto.


It was easy to look like a Polish Catholic, but it was much harder to actually say the words, that I was one. The most difficult part was watching my people go off to die while I stood sullenly to the side, my hair in two innocent braids behind my ears. I wanted to burst into tears as I saw my teachers, my classmates, and my neighbours marching with their suitcases in the street. There were women, children, and babies among the crowd. The Nazis took everyone. I wanted so desperately to join the march to the Ghetto, so that I could share in their despair. I knew though, that if I did, I would definitely be shot. I was only thirteen, but I knew that even though it was wrong to pretend I was Arian, it was much worse to give up and die.

November 1943, Poland

Irena pulled the covers tight around my body the way I liked it most. She wiggled me after she was done and placed her finger on my nose.
"You must be good, Angela", she says with a warm smile, "be on you best behaviour".
I began to feel an inexpressible sadness come over me. I thought of my mother and father who gave me to Irena just a week ago. A tear falls gently down my cheek.
" Why do you cry Angela?", she says with a pained look on her face.
" I cry because I know I will have to leave you Irena", I say wiping my tears from my face "and I'm scared I will never see my parents again".
"Your parents would want you to be brave", Irena says with a pause "they would want you to fight".

She says goodnight, and leaves. I try to close my eyes but my heart is thumping too loud to sleep. I lie there wide awake, wondering where my parents are, and where my little sister has been placed. I squint really tight, and wish that none of this happened, that we could be a happy family again. When I open my eyes, I'm still alone in the small, cold bedroom.