Jan. 5, 2026

Irena's List: Irena Sendler

Irena's List: Irena Sendler
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A forged ID, a nurse’s armband, and a will that never broke. We share the astonishing real story of Irena Sendler, the Polish social worker who smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and buried their true names in glass jars beneath an apple tree. From her father’s dying lesson—“jump in to save the drowning”—to her cool defiance at university benches, Irena learned early that compassion is a verb. When the ghetto sealed and starvation spread, she turned bureaucracy into a shield: epidemic passes, forged papers, and a rescue network that moved babies in crates and older kids through churches and courthouses that straddled the wall.

We walk through the logistics and the heartbreak: convincing parents to let children go with no guarantee of reunion, training kids to pass as Catholic under a guard’s questions, and using an ambulance dog to drown out a baby’s cry at a checkpoint. The jars of names become a second rescue, a promise that identity and lineage would endure even if families could not. Captured and tortured in 1943, Irena refused to betray anyone and faced a firing squad—until a bribed guard wrote her down as executed and slipped her into hiding. After the war, she unearthed the jars and tried to reconnect survivors, even as communist Poland buried her story for decades.

The twist arrives from an unlikely place: three Kansas students who unearthed a single line about Irena and turned it into Life in a Jar, a school play that helped restore her legacy. We reflect on late recognition, the courage of ordinary families and nuns who hid children at mortal risk, and why small acts—papers, passes, doors held open—can bend history. If you’re drawn to hidden World War II stories, the Warsaw Ghetto, Holocaust rescue, and the power of names and memory, this conversation will stay with you long after it ends.

If this moved you, tap follow, share it with a friend, and leave a review telling us which moment you’ll remember—and why.

Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/sendler.html

Life in a Jar Foundation (by the Kansas students who rediscovered her story)
https://www.irenasendler.org

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) – Irena Sendler
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/irena-sendler

Chabad.org: Irena Sendler: The Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1079233/jewish/Irena-Sendler.htm

Aish.com: Remembering Irena Sendler
https://aish.com/irena-sendler-the-unsung-hero-of-the-holocaust/

PBS / Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation
https://www.jewishpartisans.org/partisans/irena-sendler

The Guardian obituary (2008)
https://www.

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00:00 - Banter And Setup

02:36 - Naming Irena Sendler

02:48 - Childhood Lesson That Shaped A Hero

05:58 - University Protest Against Antisemitism

07:46 - From Social Work To War

10:23 - Building The Rescue Network

13:27 - Smuggling Tactics And Escape Routes

17:01 - The Jars Of Names

20:22 - Arrest, Torture, And Death Sentence

23:06 - Bribed Escape And Hiding

25:09 - Digging Up The Jars After The War

27:07 - Communist Era Erasure

29:15 - Kansas Students Rediscover Irena

32:05 - Late Honors, Legacy, And Closing

WEBVTT

00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:18.239
Oh hey there.

00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:20.000
Take 24.

00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:21.519
This is Bradley.

00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:22.719
I'm Kate.

00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:24.320
This is a history of buffoons.

00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:25.679
And he's not lying.

00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:28.160
No, because I don't know.

00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:36.320
Every time we're joking around doing it, and then you're like, all right, let's do this, and I'm like, okay, and then they're like and I just yeah.

00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:37.200
Anyways.

00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:39.119
You I don't give you time to prepare.

00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:40.399
How are you today?

00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:41.359
I'm good.

00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:42.159
How are you?

00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:43.359
Um well.

00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.359
Did you have a good Christmas?

00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:47.359
I had a fabulous Christmas.

00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:47.920
Awesome.

00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:49.280
How did you do?

00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:50.479
I cleaned a lot.

00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:52.719
Yeah, sounds benign.

00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.479
I don't know what I just picked a word.

00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:55.520
Boring.

00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:56.640
That too.

00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:59.679
Although everything looks really nice.

00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:03.520
I came to record at your house and I'm like, whose house am I in?

00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:03.920
I know.

00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:04.719
So weird.

00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:05.359
What the hell?

00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:09.120
It's because I had a lot of just like random clutter shit.

00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:09.840
I don't want.

00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:12.719
Let's let's be transparent here.

00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:16.000
You didn't have a lot of random clutter.

00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:18.799
Good old hubby.

00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:19.439
He does.

00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:21.359
Has a lot of random clutter.

00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:22.560
Nathan has a lot of random.

00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:27.760
And it's because he's he's so into woodworking and all the tools that come with it.

00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:36.159
But the problem is he's got like 20 projects going all on, so he needs everything like where accessible, which I get, don't get me wrong, but it's like it's a lot.

00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:36.640
Yeah.

00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:40.000
So yeah, I think I found like four hunting knives.

00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:41.280
Or like did you?

00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:41.760
Yeah.

00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:42.959
Just in the kitchen.

00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:46.079
Well, I mean, that's a decent spot for those.

00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:49.760
If they were in random, they were all in random, not drawers.

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.799
Yeah, but if they were if the if you found four in the bathroom.

00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:53.760
That's fair.

00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:54.640
A little weird.

00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:55.200
That's fair.

00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:56.159
Just saying.

00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:59.840
So today we're gonna talk about arena sendler.

00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:01.599
Arena sendler?

00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:05.920
Like arena you play football in, but a person's name?

00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:07.040
Spelt the same way?

00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:09.120
I R E N A.

00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:10.960
Is it Irina?

00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:13.120
I guess.

00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:16.479
Is it not Irina?

00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:17.680
Irena.

00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:19.360
I think it would be Arena.

00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:20.719
It would be Irina.

00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:21.439
That's what I said.

00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:22.319
Irena.

00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.840
I have recorded proof otherwise.

00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:26.800
Irina.

00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:27.599
Irena.

00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:28.240
Irena.

00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:29.680
It's Irena Sendler.

00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:30.800
Jesus Christ.

00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:31.919
Did I say it wrong again?

00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:35.840
No, it's she's four foot eleven.

00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:38.879
That is a tiny person.

00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:46.080
She was armed with a fake ID, a toolbox, and nerves of steel.

00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:55.039
She was a Polish social worker who outwitted the Nazis 2,500 times.

00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:57.199
And you've probably never heard of her.

00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:58.000
Okay.

00:02:58.479 --> 00:02:59.599
Let's get into it.

00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:00.240
Perfect.

00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:01.199
What are you drinking?

00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.960
I have a delicious winter treat.

00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:06.560
Again.

00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:08.000
Sierra celebration.

00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:11.599
Yeah, we wanted our normal type of drinks.

00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:13.120
I'm drinking a cooper's banquet.

00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:24.719
We didn't go anything to Schrooper French Frenchy, but um I don't have much longer for this time frame of this being out, so I'm like, yeah, I'll grab a grab a six-pack plus some banquets.

00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:28.240
So um I have two and a half to go.

00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:29.599
We'll see how I get.

00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:34.960
Okay, so Irina Sandler.

00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:36.879
Look at you go learning.

00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:41.680
Was born Irina Kryzynoska.

00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:44.800
Don't even say it again.

00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:45.840
No, no, no, no, no.

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Hear me out.

00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:49.199
We never have to hear that again, right?

00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:50.000
One more.

00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:50.560
Fuck.

00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:52.000
One more time.

00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:53.120
Get ready, folks.

00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:54.000
It's gonna be a plug-in.

00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:55.840
Technically, I don't have to say it again.

00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:56.719
Now you do.

00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:01.759
But uh, she was born in 1910 in a town near Warsaw, Poland.

00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.199
Hey, I know that place.

00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.240
Her father, Dr.

00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:10.319
Stanislav Krasinzanowska.

00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:11.759
Boom.

00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:12.639
Nailed it.

00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:14.800
Um, he was a physician with a big heart.

00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:20.959
Um, he was the kind of doctor who treated poor patients for free, including many Jewish families.

00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:21.839
That's nice.

00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:28.879
And what when Irina was just seven years old, a typhus epidemic swept through their town.

00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:29.199
Okay.

00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:33.680
And her dad was the only doctor who stayed to take care of all the sick.

00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:37.199
They all just bailed because they're like fuck this about.

00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:37.839
Yeah.

00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.199
And of course, he ended up contracting the disease himself.

00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:42.079
Oh dear.

00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:43.920
So did he treat himself?

00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:49.439
Not to like a nice dinner, but I mean, I probably would treat myself to a nice dinner.

00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:50.560
Did he die from it?

00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:51.120
He did.

00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:51.920
Oh shit.

00:04:52.160 --> 00:05:01.040
Um, on his deathbed in 1917, he made sure to teach um his daughter one final lesson, and she literally took that lesson with her everywhere.

00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:08.079
He said, quote, if you see someone drowning, you must jump in to save them, whether you can swim or not.

00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:11.120
Um can she swim?

00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:17.439
AKA help people in need without overthinking it.

00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:18.480
Just do what's right.

00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:25.279
Help and and you know, we're getting into a time frame where a lot of help was needed, obviously.

00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:30.480
So um what was I just gonna say?

00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:34.319
There's not this mentality anymore, which really sucks.

00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:41.839
You know, the funny thing is like social media was supposed to bring you together and it's pushed people further apart.

00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:48.800
Most people don't know how to interact when they're in a public setting because they're on their fucking phone because that's their friend.

00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:53.600
They think they have thousands of friends on Facebook or whatever, and it's like they don't fucking know you.

00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:55.600
Yeah, nobody really knows you.

00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:57.519
But yet they think they're popular.

00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:58.000
Yeah.

00:05:58.560 --> 00:05:59.360
Fuck that.

00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:08.079
So Irina was raised Catholic, but her father, um, her his example taught her to never discriminate.

00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:16.319
So in the 1930s, she attended the University of Warsaw and quickly proved that she wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in.

00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:21.040
At the time, anti-Semitism Semitism, yeah, semi-speaking.

00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:21.680
You said it right.

00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:22.160
Okay.

00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:25.519
Um it was common in Poland and colleges as well.

00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:33.439
And Jewish Jewish students were segregated, forced to sit on uh separate Jewish benches and lecture halls.

00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:35.279
That's so fucking wild.

00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:39.920
Most non-Jewish students went along with this rule, but not Irina.

00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:44.160
One day she sat on the Jewish side of the classroom.

00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:45.199
Scandalous.

00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:49.839
When a preference professor demanded that she move to the Aryan side.

00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:51.120
Oh, Jesus Christ.

00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:54.639
Arena coolly replied, I'm Jewish today.

00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:59.920
Of course, she was suspended from the university for that act.

00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:00.959
Indefinitely?

00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:01.439
Yeah.

00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:02.480
Oh shit.

00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:04.560
So she was expelled, not suspended.

00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:10.319
Um, decades later, under communist rule, she was considered um a subversive.

00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:15.600
Her son and daughter were refused entry into Warsaw University, but I'll get to that.

00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:16.079
Okay.

00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:17.519
We'll talk about that a little bit later.

00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:18.240
Right.

00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:28.399
The university marked her record as a Philo Seminite or lover of Jews and the leftists, with which made it hard for her to get jobs later.

00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:29.920
And a leftist.

00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:32.319
But wasn't she right-handed?

00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:33.279
I'm sorry.

00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:34.240
That was poor.

00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:39.759
Outside of school, Irina's compassion also drew her towards social work.

00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:45.839
She joined humanitarian student groups and later trained as a social worker.

00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:52.000
By the late 1930s, she was working for the welfare department of the city of Warsaw.

00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:52.560
Okay.

00:07:52.959 --> 00:08:00.480
In this job, she helped organize soup kitchens and provide assistance to the poor, elderly, and orphans in the city.

00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:05.519
So she was deeply committed to help bring those most vulnerable.

00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:06.560
Yeah, for sure.

00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:07.439
Yeah.

00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:12.560
So in September 1939, World War II crashes into Poland.

00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:13.519
Sure does.

00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:17.839
Nazi Germany invaded, conquering Warsaw within weeks.

00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:24.800
And life in Warsaw Warsaw turned into a nightmare almost overnight, especially for the Jewish population.

00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:25.519
Right.

00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:38.399
The Nazis imposed brutal laws on Jews, forcing them to wear identifying armbands, keep them out of jobs, and confine them to a small section of the city that became the infamous Warsaw ghetto.

00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:39.200
Yep.

00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:45.279
So before the war, Warsaw had like a vibrant Jewish community, which was about 30% of the city.

00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.960
But apparently they were pretty anti-Jewish, though.

00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:51.600
Because they had their own fucking sections.

00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:53.039
Right?

00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:55.200
They who?

00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:56.960
Warsaw?

00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:00.960
The general population was against them?

00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:01.600
Yeah.

00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:04.320
Or was it just at the college or the university?

00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:06.799
No, everywhere was anti-Semitism.

00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:08.639
Isn't that fucking weird though?

00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:09.440
Why?

00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.720
Because, like, I don't know.

00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:14.960
That that was the whole Nazi Hitler thing.

00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:17.919
But yet it was already there in Poland.

00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.639
They were already being segregated, not murdered.

00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:23.440
No, I I get that, but alright.

00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:40.480
Anyways, I guess I think look at me being progressive and you being a I think maybe obviously in the grand scheme of things, Warsaw being segregated was like minute versus Nazi Germany, which is like we're gonna take this and like I understand that.

00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:46.879
I'm just saying it's just funny because like the same ideologies walked into what they were already at.

00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:48.879
It's like that's just seems fucked up to me.

00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:51.039
Yeah, I guess is all I'm really trying to say.

00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:52.399
But it's extreme.

00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:55.360
It was too definite further extreme.

00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:02.480
I agree, but just I don't know, it just seems weird because that's what the Nazi Party was all about, more or less.

00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:05.200
And uh besides world domination too.

00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:10.399
But like they they go and conquer this place and they already thought that way.

00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:10.960
Yeah.

00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:12.559
I don't know, it just seems wild to me.

00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:18.960
So yeah, is all um not all Jews were being crammed behind ghetto walls.

00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:25.840
Um scar sorry, all Jews were now being crammed behind.

00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:34.639
Not all lucky on some, but already um they were behind the ghetto walls, cut off from the outside with barbed wire and armed guards.

00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:35.279
Right.

00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:37.600
Conditions were horrific.

00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:41.039
Starvation, disease, and overcrowding.

00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:48.240
Um, eventually, over 450,000 people would be imprisoned in that tiny ghetto neighborhood.

00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:50.000
Wow, that's crazy.

00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:57.519
Irina was in her late 20s, still working as a senior administrator in the social welfare department.

00:10:57.840 --> 00:10:59.600
So she had kids at this point, you said already?

00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:01.840
So she does have a family.

00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:03.200
I don't talk about it.

00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:03.840
That's okay.

00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:09.519
She's she was married, then divorced, then married her first guy again, and then divorced.

00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:11.120
They just could not make it work.

00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:12.639
And I think she had three kids.

00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:13.840
Okay, just curious.

00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:14.320
Yeah.

00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.279
Um, I I have their information and everything.

00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:20.159
I wrote as kind of like an afterthought if you wanted to know about it.

00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:25.200
I mean, the biggest thing I want to know was they were they all taller than her?

00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:27.519
I don't know.

00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:35.440
Because 4'11, that is a tiny little what's the word I'm looking for?

00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:36.159
Woman?

00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:37.120
Yeah, I guess.

00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:41.600
I mean, that is that is that is I mean, I'm 6'3.

00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:43.360
I'm I'm decently tall.

00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:46.720
I'm not the tallest by any stretch, but I'm I'm decently tall.

00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:47.840
4'11.

00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.279
God damn, that's short.

00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:53.759
So at first her resistance was small and quiet, like her.

00:11:54.080 --> 00:12:00.960
She saw Jewish friends and neighbors being prosecuted and persecuted, different.

00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.360
Um she began helping wherever she could.

00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:15.440
So she and colleagues forged hundreds of false documents for Jewish families so they could receive aid and food rations under Christian names.

00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:16.559
Wow, nice.

00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:28.000
They listed Jews as sick with typhus or tuberculosis to discourage Nazi investigations since they were terrified of contagious disease.

00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:28.720
Right.

00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:32.720
She also offered shelter to Jews who managed to escape or hide.

00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.360
And all this was extremely dangerous.

00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:40.000
Aiding Jews was punishable by death in occupied Poland.

00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:40.320
Sure.

00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:41.840
But Arena didn't hesitate.

00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:43.279
Well, good on her.

00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:47.120
By 1942, Arena faced a terrible realization.

00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:51.840
Her efforts so far, as important as they were, weren't enough in her eyes.

00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:53.120
They weren't enough.

00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:59.039
So the Nazis' um persecution was escalating from oppression to murder.

00:12:59.200 --> 00:12:59.519
Yep.

00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:05.440
And inside the Warsaw ghetto, people were dying at a rate of 5,000 a month from disease and starvation.

00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.120
It's a lot of months.

00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:10.799
And then we have deportations after that.

00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:11.279
Sure.

00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:16.799
So by this time, the Nazis had built Treblinka, the extermination camp not far away.

00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:17.200
Yep.

00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:22.159
Many in the ghetto thought deportation meant resettlement or labor camps.

00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:28.320
But Treblinka was purely a death factory, gas chambers and ovens, nothing else.

00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:29.039
Yeah.

00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:36.480
So Arena and her fellow social workers smuggled food and medicine into the ghetto trying to alleviate some of their suffering.

00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:37.279
Yeah.

00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:43.679
But Arena just felt like she was prolonging the suffering, like it couldn't save lives in the long run.

00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:55.440
No, she was she was making them comfortable per se in the meantime, but yet they're still going to literally this death camp and or dying of disease within the ghetto or whatever.

00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:58.399
So yeah, no, I I get her her thought process on that.

00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:03.360
So in late 1942, she joined an organization called Zagoda.

00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:11.360
It is the Council for Aid to Drew Jews, which was um set up by the Polish Underground Resistance.

00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:11.840
Okay.

00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:13.360
Zagoda was unique.

00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:23.600
It was specifically dedicated to helping Jews survive, funded partly by the Polish government in exile and with support from Jewish groups abroad.

00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:24.399
Sure.

00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:34.159
So they need someone, they needed someone to head the children's division in arena, only 32 years old, and a new mother at this time agreed without a second thought.

00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:34.799
Okay.

00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:37.039
Excuse me.

00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:41.759
Irena believed that the children were the most innocent and vulnerable victims.

00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:54.399
Well, yeah, I mean, I'd have to kind of agree with that a little bit, but she said, quote, when the war started, all of Poland was drowning in a sea of blood, but most of all, it affected the Jewish nation.

00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:58.080
And within that nation, it was the children who suffered most.

00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:00.399
That's why we needed to give our hearts to them.

00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:01.279
Sure.

00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:04.559
So that was now her mission was to save the children.

00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:05.279
Okay.

00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:15.919
So how do you save children who were trapped in this ghetto by soldiers who will shoot you for sneezing too hard?

00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:16.799
Anything, yeah.

00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:17.600
Yeah.

00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:21.759
Um, she had a lot of tricks up her sleeve.

00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:22.320
Okay.

00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:29.120
So she went by the code name Jolenta or Yolenta, depending on Jolenta.

00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:30.000
Yolenta.

00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:31.679
It's a magical name.

00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:38.799
Um, she put together a network of about 25 friends and co-conspirators, mostly women but some men.

00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:41.600
They they divided up these tasks.

00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:45.840
Ten people devoted themselves to sneaking children out of the ghetto.

00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:52.399
Another 10 focused on find finding safe um hiding places for the kids.

00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:59.200
And the remaining five handled the the job of forging documents and IDs for the children.

00:15:59.440 --> 00:15:59.759
Okay.

00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:05.919
So kind of like a high-stakes relay team with Arena coordinating it all.

00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:06.720
Sure.

00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:11.360
As a city social worker, Irina had a special advantage.

00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:21.759
She managed to get an official pass from the epidemic control department to enter the ghetto on the pretext of checking for disease outbreaks.

00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:22.799
Oh, wow.

00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:27.600
So the Nazis were terrified of these diseases spreading beyond the ghetto.

00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:30.559
So they allowed a few Polish health workers to go inside.

00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:32.000
Yeah, like you, you do this.

00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:32.559
Yeah.

00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:39.759
Well, I mean, I don't blame them because the shit could spread, especially with, you know, the way that the armies are are working and so on.

00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:41.279
They're like, we're not going to risk our lives.

00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:42.639
Yeah, you fucking go ahead.

00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:42.960
Yeah.

00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:44.000
Report back.

00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:55.440
So Irvina used this pass as her cover to walk into the ghetto daily, wearing a news nurse's uniform, sometimes a social welfare band, um, carrying food and medicine.

00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:58.000
She wasn't there, obviously, to give aid.

00:16:58.559 --> 00:16:59.840
I mean, not just aid.

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:00.240
No.

00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.679
She was scouting for children.

00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.639
Correct.

00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:11.039
So at first, she rescued orphans who were found on the streets, kids who had no parents or had been abandoned or were doomed to die alone.

00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:11.839
That's sad.

00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:16.960
Taking them out was heartbreaking, but straightforward in the sense that no parent had to be persuaded.

00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:18.240
Which is true.

00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:23.680
But soon enough, Irina realized that she could save more children by approaching families inside the ghetto.

00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:24.559
Right.

00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:34.960
So the most agonizing part for her was persuading Jewish mothers and fathers to hand over their children to her, especially to a stranger.

00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:35.759
Well, right.

00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:39.279
No guarantee of safety, no guarantee of ever seeing them again.

00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:43.039
But if you look at it like what guarantees do they have staying with them?

00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:46.160
And that's that was her argument.

00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:46.559
Yeah.

00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:51.759
Because uh you gotta look at it like again, people dying of disease within the ghetto.

00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:55.519
People being, all right, well, you're on this next truck to death death camp.

00:17:55.839 --> 00:18:02.720
You know, it's like I I get how it would be like okay, put myself in that situation with my kids.

00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:09.359
I wouldn't want Xavier and Vesper to be taken away from my this random lady who says we're trying to help them.

00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:09.680
Yeah.

00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:13.359
Because I'm like, I don't want to not see you again, but I also don't want them to die.

00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:13.759
Yeah.

00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:15.759
So it's it's really a double-edged sword.

00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:16.480
It's like, what do I do?

00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:17.599
It is, yeah, absolutely.

00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:18.640
Yeah, it's tough.

00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:19.200
Yeah.

00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:26.559
Um, understandably, most parents struggle to let go, even knowing that it might be their only chance for their child to live.

00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:27.359
Right.

00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:32.880
Irina, who had a toddler son at home, found it almost unbearably painful to ask of this.

00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:33.359
Right.

00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:40.720
Um, she later said it was the hardest part of her work, and the only thing that gave her the strength to keep doing it was knowing the terrible alternative.

00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:44.480
If the child stayed, the child would most certainly die.

00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:45.279
Sure.

00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:48.079
So convincing the parents was step one.

00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:54.000
Next came actually sneaking the children out under the noses of the German guards.

00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:54.400
Yep.

00:18:54.720 --> 00:19:01.279
Irina Entertainment used creative methods, um, um, kind of like a smuggling pipeline.

00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:01.839
Yeah.

00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.200
Small babies were often sedated to keep them from crying.

00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:05.920
Oh dear.

00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:10.880
They were hidden in boxes, suitcases, backpacks type stuff, whatever.

00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:12.960
Does it rule boxes?

00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:13.359
Yeah.

00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:14.400
Absolutely.

00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:20.480
One rescued involved hiding an infant under loose potatoes in a cart.

00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:22.000
Oh, Jesus Christ.

00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:22.559
Yes.

00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:29.200
Another effective ploy, Arena smuggled a child out in a coffin, pretending to be transporting a dead body.

00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:30.319
Oh dear.

00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:41.200
Older children who could pass as sick or injured were placed on stretchers or snuck out in ambulances as ambulances were allowed to go in for medical emergencies.

00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:41.920
Sure.

00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:49.680
Arena had a friendly um ambulance driver in on the scheme, and together they pulled off um a trick straight out of a movie.

00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:53.680
Basically, they kept a dog in the ambulance, trained to bark on command.

00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:59.839
And whenever they were leaving the ghetto with a hidden child, um, maybe a baby on a girdle.

00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:06.960
Or whatever, and a German guard would approach, the dog would start to bark pretty loudly.

00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:11.279
The dog's noise would drown out the potential of the children's noise.

00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:12.160
Sure.

00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:15.279
So that's wild, like to think that that could work.

00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:20.799
And then this dog barking can also trigger the German guard's dog's barking.

00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:21.599
Yeah, no doubt.

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:22.880
Because they're like, wait a minute.

00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:23.839
Yes, exactly.

00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:25.200
Fido said something though.

00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:26.400
What did he what did he say?

00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:35.119
So another escape route Arena used involved two buildings that directly um butted up against the um ghetto wall.

00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:35.519
Okay.

00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.839
A courthouse and a Catholic church.

00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:38.640
Oh shit.

00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:46.319
And these buildings had entrances inside the ghetto and exits on the non-Jewish side.

00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:47.039
Right.

00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:50.880
So Arena's team would sneak children through these buildings.

00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:57.920
For the church route, they taught older kids basic uh Catholic prayers and how to make the sign of the cross.

00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:03.599
The children would be led into the church from the ghetto side, often pretending to attend a service.

00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:04.079
Right.

00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:08.000
Inside, they would remove their Star of David and try to look confident.

00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:12.799
Then they would simply walk out the front door of the church onto the opposite side.

00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:14.400
Like they just got out of a service.

00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:15.839
Exactly, exactly.

00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:16.240
Wow.

00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:26.240
German soldiers stood at the door and would sometimes quiz the children with questions like a line from a prayer or a saint's name trying to catch Jewish kids.

00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:26.880
Jesus.

00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.200
But Arena's training was really, really good.

00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:31.200
Apparently, because I would have fucked that up.

00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:34.000
None of the children were ever caught coming out of the church.

00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:34.799
That's wild.

00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:41.599
The fact that that worked, because you gotta, I mean, I know it's very troubling times, obviously.

00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:50.960
But could you imagine be like, uh I again, I'm not very religious, so this this isn't really gonna work in what I'm trying to say, but it's like, who is such and such?

00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:53.599
Like, I know, I would like freeze on the spot.

00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:56.000
Yeah, I'd be like, brain fart.

00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:56.720
Sorry.

00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:57.599
I'm yeah.

00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:00.000
I just I just had a meaningful service.

00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.200
Don't quiz me, man.

00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:02.799
I'm I'm still drunk with God.

00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:04.400
Drunk with God.

00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:06.640
Exactly.

00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:07.759
I mean, right?

00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:09.440
You're not wrong.

00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:19.039
I I just I would fuck it up, basically, because I I don't know how I would have I don't I don't know how I would have passed that test.

00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:22.079
And then probably like, nope, go back or shoo yeah.

00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:23.359
Yeah, fuck.

00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:36.000
So arena and her network had many pathways, hidden compartments and trucks, secret passages through basements, even the city sewers and underground tunnel tunnels were used.

00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:39.039
They truly try to leave no stone unturned.

00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:48.640
And outside the ghetto, once a child was out, they excuse me, they provided false identity papers and new Polish names for each child.

00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:49.200
Okay.

00:22:49.440 --> 00:23:01.039
And they found safe havens for these kids by placing them with trusted police, nope, Polish families, orphanages, or convents willing to hide Jewish children.

00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:02.000
Right.

00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:06.240
So this was incredibly dangerous for the caretakers as well.

00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:13.279
Any Polish family caught hiding a Jew could be executed along with their own family under Nazi law.

00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:14.160
Correct.

00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:19.279
Despite this, many, many souls agree to shelter the children.

00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:26.240
Irena said later that surprisingly, no one ever refused to take a child from her, knowing all the risks.

00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:27.359
Isn't that wild?

00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:29.200
Because, like, you do that today.

00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:32.319
I mean, God forbid something like that would it's all save yourself.

00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:32.880
Yeah.

00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:33.119
Yeah.

00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:35.279
People are like, I ain't fucking taking your kid.

00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:36.160
Fuck off.

00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:38.240
Uh I'm looking out for numero uno.

00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:38.880
Yeah.

00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:47.680
But that's the kind of like mentality we've beaten into everybody is now is like no sense of community, all about yourself.

00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:51.519
What's the um the Jezzelnik thoughts and prayer?

00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:53.039
Yeah, the thoughts and prayers.

00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:54.559
Don't forget about me today.

00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:56.079
Yeah, on a tragedy.

00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:06.480
Yeah, it's like someone's like sending my thoughts and prayers, meaning basically also just means don't forget about me today on this tragic day that has nothing to do with me.

00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:08.079
It's so true.

00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:08.480
Yeah.

00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.759
Because that's what this social media world has created.

00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.920
It's like, God forbid, no one's paying attention to me, but I'm an influencer.

00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:17.119
How could you not?

00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:18.960
Don't forget about me today.

00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:19.440
Yeah.

00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:21.839
And I'll about go fuck yourself.

00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.920
So all of this actually worked day after day.

00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:29.599
Children vanished from the ghetto and reappeared in new lives on the outside.

00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:30.400
That's wild.

00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:36.400
Many of the very young ones were too small to remember their real names or where they came from once they were safe.

00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:40.960
But that leads us to one of Irena's most important actions.

00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:41.519
Okay.

00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:44.480
She kept track of every child's identity.

00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:45.119
Wow.

00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:50.559
So from the start, she was determined that these children should not lose their true names or family heritage.

00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:52.640
They're just borrowing another one for the time being.

00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:53.200
Exactly.

00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:54.880
So she made lists.

00:24:55.119 --> 00:25:01.920
For each child, she wrote down their birth name, Jewish family name, and their new Polish name and location.

00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:04.400
I never seen the movie Irina's List.

00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:05.759
No.

00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:12.720
I mean, it's kind of similar-ish, right?

00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:16.000
No, we I mean we talked very briefly about Schindler, but yes.

00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:17.039
You know.

00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:18.640
Either way.

00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:24.720
So she used thin cigarette paper or tissue to record these names.

00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:25.359
Okay.

00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.200
And then she would hide the lists in glass jars.

00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:41.119
And after after each rescue, she would make the notes with all the children's names and bury them in jars under the ground in a friend's garden under an apple tree.

00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:42.400
Oh wow.

00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:45.279
Um her friend's name was Mrs.

00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:46.799
Piatroska.

00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:47.359
Okay.

00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:50.960
Um, and she was right across the street from a German barracks.

00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:52.000
That's wild.

00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:55.680
I assume they dug all these up already.

00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:56.160
Yes.

00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:56.880
Yeah, okay.

00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:05.359
So those jars in the dirt held the real identities of all of her children, quote unquote her children, um, like little time capsules.

00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:05.839
Right.

00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:13.119
Irina's dream was that after the war, she would dig up the jars and use the list to reunite every child with their parents or relatives.

00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:13.839
Sure.

00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:19.359
It was a slim hope, even though then she knew many parents were likely already dead.

00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:19.920
Yep.

00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:21.279
But she still had that hope.

00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:30.000
But they at least, whether they're dead or not, which obviously you hope for the better of those two choices, at least you could be like, This was these were your parents.

00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:33.839
Reconnect with family as best you can, so on and so forth.

00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:46.559
So I mean, at least you hope for the best possible outcome, but at the same time, you're really hoping that at least you can give them a sense of what they were, who they came from, and also what else, what other family members that might still be out there.

00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:48.160
You can at least connect that way.

00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:49.680
So yeah, I get that.

00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:57.039
So the lists were obviously incredibly incriminating if the Gestapo ever found them.

00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:57.759
Well, yeah.

00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:06.559
They would be a roadmap to every rescue child and everyone involved in hiding them, which also would be a death sentence for all.

00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:07.920
So everyone involved, yep.

00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:09.920
So of course Irina guarded them with her life.

00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:10.400
Sure.

00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:13.440
At one point, she briefly kept a list at home.

00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:14.160
Oh God.

00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:16.799
And German agents showed up unexpectedly.

00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:22.400
One of her colleagues had to hide the list in her underwear at the last second to keep it from being discovered.

00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:23.279
Oh, Jesus.

00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:26.720
After that scare, Irina never kept the list on her person.

00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:27.519
Thank God.

00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:29.440
I mean, I can't believe she did from the get-go.

00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:31.920
I mean, I'm I get it maybe, but Jesus Christ.

00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:32.319
Yeah.

00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:37.119
That is so incriminating, and you would have fucked a lot of people if just you got caught.

00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:37.599
I know.

00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:42.720
So the jars underneath the ground by the apple tree was the only archive.

00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:43.279
Sure.

00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:44.079
No, I get that.

00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:48.720
So every few days she would dig them up, update them with new names, and rebury them.

00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:54.480
By late 1943, there were 2,500 names.

00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:55.440
Wow.

00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:57.519
How many does Schindler have?

00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.240
Uh 13, 14, something like that.

00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:01.920
I mentioned it later.

00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:03.359
She crushes them.

00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:09.359
So all this work had to be done under extreme secrecy and constant fear.

00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:15.279
Irina moved around the city frequently, changing addresses as often as she could.

00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:17.200
Oh, Irina actually did?

00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:17.599
Yep.

00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:18.000
Okay.

00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:26.720
She even wore a star of David Armband herself when walking in the ghetto, partly out of solidarity, partly to blend in and not draw attention.

00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:27.359
Sure.

00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:39.839
So for about 18 months, from late 1942 through 1943, Irina walked into that ghetto nearly every day and each time walked out with a child hidden somewhere on her person or vehicle.

00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:43.839
Okay, I'm gonna reference a previous episode of ours.

00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:44.319
Oh.

00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:48.000
She is way cooler than that piece of shit, Georgia Tan.

00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:52.079
Georgia Tan! That dumb Oh my god, Georgia Tan.

00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.680
This is a real true person, not fucking Georgia Tan.

00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:56.720
What episode was that?

00:28:56.799 --> 00:28:57.599
Like seven or something?

00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:58.640
It was it was pretty early.

00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:00.319
It was early on, Georgia Tan.

00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:01.839
She is cruel.

00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:06.160
She was a she was a evil, evil, evil fucking person.

00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:07.039
Yeah, she was.

00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:09.039
Irena or Arena.

00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:10.319
Awesome.

00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:18.079
So Arena tried to prepare for every contingency.

00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:22.240
Um inevitably the Gestapo started closing in.

00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:23.359
Oh dear.

00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:27.839
This kind of extensive operation does leave some traces.

00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:29.039
It's always going to.

00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:33.680
There were rumors in the ghetto and likely informants about children being smuggled out.

00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:38.000
The Nazis noticed that not as many kids were showing up in the deportations.

00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:46.559
I was just gonna say, I mean, you're gonna start noticing because it's like you have all these children throughout this ghetto, and I'm like, where's Billy?

00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:48.480
Yeah, you know, it's where the heck did he go?

00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:50.720
Where's where's little Jimmy?

00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:52.799
I mean, I don't know, whatever their names are, obviously.

00:29:52.880 --> 00:30:01.359
But you know, you're gonna start noticing like, wait a minute, something's off here because parents, parents, I used to see you with a kid.

00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:02.799
Where's your fucking kid?

00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:03.279
Right.

00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:08.160
And so, yeah, I can imagine that it's gonna collapse at some point.

00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:13.599
So the Nazis noticed that not as many kids were showing up.

00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:17.359
They didn't know who was responsible at first, but they were tur determined to find out.

00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:22.480
In October of October of 1943, they got Irina.

00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:23.440
Oh, they did?

00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:24.240
Yes.

00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:26.640
All four feet eleven inches of her.

00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:27.200
Yep.

00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:30.960
October 20th of 1943, Irina's luck ran out.

00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:35.279
The Gestapo arrested her and dragged her off to Paviac Prison.

00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:36.400
Paviac?

00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:36.960
I don't know.

00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:38.160
I'm not familiar with that one.

00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:41.200
It is a notorious Nazi prison in Warsaw.

00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:41.759
Okay.

00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:45.920
It seems someone betrayed her address to the Gestapo.

00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:51.440
Not sure if it was a paid informant, which was pretty common back then.

00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:55.039
I mean, as far as you know, it could have been someone trying to save their own skin, too.

00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:55.680
Exactly.

00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:56.960
I mean, unfortunately.

00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:01.759
You would hope not, because you would hope to honestly, unfortunately, take one for the team.

00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:05.119
But when you're when you're forced to, I don't know.

00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:07.039
Oh, Arena takes one for the team.

00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:08.480
Uh, it sounds that way.

00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:13.440
Her precious jars remained safely buried in the garden undiscovered.

00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:14.000
Yeah.

00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:16.319
Um, but Arena was now in enemy hands.

00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:16.559
Yeah.

00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:19.440
So the Nazis immediately began to torture her.

00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:20.079
Of course.

00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:27.599
Determined to make her reveal the names of her collaborators and the identify uh identities and locations of the rescued kids.

00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:28.000
Yeah.

00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:30.400
They broke both of her feet.

00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:33.440
They broke both of her legs.

00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:34.960
Not her hands.

00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:36.720
Feet and legs.

00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:37.599
I got that.

00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:40.559
Shattered her bones with beatings.

00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:46.000
They beat her brutally for days, leaving permanently scarred.

00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:52.559
I read one one thing that said that she was wheelchair bound for the rest of her life.

00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:55.839
I read another thing that she eventually just walked with a limp.

00:31:56.319 --> 00:31:58.079
Jeez, that's that's quite a bit different.

00:31:58.160 --> 00:31:59.279
I know, yeah.

00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:01.920
But after all of this, Irina did not talk.

00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:03.119
Not a single name.

00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:05.119
I mean, seriously.

00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:09.200
I would say the people doing this to her don't know her.

00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:12.960
The little bit I've learned about her would have never guessed anything else.

00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:13.680
Yeah, exactly.

00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:14.559
Seriously.

00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:21.039
So this 33-year-old woman endured agony and never gave up on her friends or the children.

00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:29.680
She later said that while being tortured, she was more afraid of accidentally biting her tongue off from the pain than she was of dying.

00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:30.160
Yep.

00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:34.000
Because if she died without telling them anything, that was fine by her.

00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:36.960
She just didn't want to slip up and say something under duress.

00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:37.359
Sure.

00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:40.799
Which a lot of times in interrogations, that happens.

00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:47.279
So frustrated and furious, the Gestapo sentenced sentenced Irina to death by firing squad.

00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:48.160
Oh dear.

00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:52.799
She had seen others go before the firing squaw squad at Paviac.

00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:55.440
She knew that it was that it was coming for her.

00:32:55.680 --> 00:32:56.000
Sure.

00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:01.680
And by all accounts, she accepted her death sentence with calmness and pride.

00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:04.880
She had done the right thing, protected the children.

00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:07.519
If she had to die for it, so be it.

00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:12.400
Um, and of course, any other place in time, this might have been the end of the story, but it wasn't.

00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:13.440
No, right.

00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:21.920
Um, Zagoda, the underground organization, yeah, was not about to let their mother of children perish if they could help it.

00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:22.480
Sure.

00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:26.319
They managed to bribe some German guards at Paviak Prison.

00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:27.119
Really?

00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:29.680
The details are fuzzy.

00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:31.039
Oh, they're not fuzzy.

00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:34.720
It's something straight out of like a thriller movie.

00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:35.839
Oh, okay.

00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:52.000
On the very day of her scheduled execution in early 1944, a guard came to take Arena from her cell, but instead of leading her to the firing squad, she snuck out to a safe spot and he snuck her out to a safe spot and let her go free.

00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:53.359
That's wild.

00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:57.119
Basically, they had effectively bought her life.

00:33:57.440 --> 00:33:59.039
So what happened to that guard?

00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:01.119
Oh, he gets his comeuppance.

00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:02.079
Yeah, I'm sure.

00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:11.360
The guard wrote her name on the list of executed prisoners, and the Gestapo, not realizing the ruse, announced that Arena Sendler had been shot.

00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:11.920
Okay.

00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:19.440
The next day, posters went up around Warsaw, trumpeting the death of this Jewish savior conspirator.

00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:20.000
Yeah.

00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:24.320
Arena herself now hiding, saw the notices of her own name on them.

00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:30.320
Um it was useful though, since the Germans thought she was dead.

00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.719
They presumably presumably stopped looking for her.

00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:36.480
Well, of course, you would you would hope.

00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:42.320
But the Gestapo realized that she had escaped.

00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:53.199
According to one account, the duped officers were so enraged that they sent the poor bribed guard to the Eastern Front as punishment, which is essentially a death sentence.

00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:54.400
Yeah.

00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:57.360
Because he's going to fight the the Soviets, then, right?

00:34:57.679 --> 00:34:57.920
Yeah.

00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:01.119
So she went into deep hiding though, Irena.

00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:02.480
Well, I would hope so.

00:35:02.719 --> 00:35:07.599
She had to move from place to place using false identities, much like the children she had saved.

00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:12.800
And despite being physically crippled, um, she didn't quit the resistance.

00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:16.000
She couldn't directly continue rescuing children.

00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:17.440
Not like she was, of course.

00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:19.920
By then it's nine early 1944.

00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:20.320
Yep.

00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:23.360
Um the Warsaw ghetto had been completely liquidated.

00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:28.400
The survivor, the surviving Jews of Warsaw were either in hiding or in camps.

00:35:28.559 --> 00:35:28.960
Yep.

00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:34.400
Um, but she still helped where she could working with Zagoda on other efforts until the war's end.

00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:35.280
Sure.

00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:44.239
So when World War II finally ended in 1945, Irina Sendler emerged from hiding into a devastated country.

00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:44.960
Right.

00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:48.239
Warsaw was in ruins from the uprising and the war.

00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:48.559
Yep.

00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:51.199
Over 85% of the city had been destroyed.

00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:52.400
Isn't that wild?

00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:54.719
So so crazy how much they destroyed.

00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:59.119
And the Holocaust had wiped out most of Poland's Jewish population.

00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:00.000
Of course.

00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:04.800
So amidst this rubble, Irina's first priority dig up those jars.

00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:05.920
Fuck yeah.

00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:12.239
She retraved the glass jars from underneath the apple tree, hoping to fulfill her promise of reuniting families.

00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:12.800
Yep.

00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:15.840
Sadly, in most cases, there were there were no family left.

00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:25.039
Well, yeah, which we expected because again, that's why I said, you know, worst case, hopefully you can connect with extended family members.

00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:30.079
Because you knew a lot of these moms, dads, brothers, sisters, whatever were going to be fucking dead.

00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:36.159
And it's sad, but unfortunately, that was what the outcome was gonna be in that time frame.

00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:36.639
Yeah.

00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:37.280
So yeah.

00:36:37.599 --> 00:36:42.719
So all almost all the parents of the children had perished in Treblinka or other death camps.

00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:43.280
Right.

00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:48.400
Irena and some colleagues from Zagoda worked tirelessly to find any surviving relatives.

00:36:48.719 --> 00:36:49.039
Exactly.

00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:53.920
So using the list, they did manage to reconnect some children with aunts, uncles, or other family.

00:36:54.239 --> 00:36:54.559
Good.

00:36:54.719 --> 00:36:58.559
But for the vast majority of the 2,500, there was no one left.

00:36:58.719 --> 00:36:59.119
Right.

00:36:59.360 --> 00:37:04.320
Many of those children were ultimately adopted by Polish families who had sheltered them.

00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:04.880
Sure.

00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:09.119
Or the emigrated to Israel or other countries in the following years.

00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:09.920
Gotcha.

00:37:10.400 --> 00:37:13.280
Irina continued to keep in touch with many of them.

00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:16.079
They were, in a sense, all of her children now.

00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:26.639
In the years after the war, those who had been rescued would often visit her, send letters, and regard her with deep affection, even calling her mother or aunt Irina.

00:37:27.039 --> 00:37:27.519
Sure.

00:37:28.079 --> 00:37:32.400
Poland emerged from World War II only to fall under a new form of oppression.

00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:32.880
Yeah.

00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:35.280
Soviet-backed communist rule.

00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:36.960
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:45.760
And the communist regime in Poland was not interested in celebrating members of the wartime Polish underground like Zagoda.

00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:46.159
Okay.

00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:48.159
Unless they were communists themselves.

00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:48.800
Sure.

00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:55.679
Arena had been associated with the Polish Socialist Party and Democratic Youth Groups, not communist partisans.

00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:59.840
So in the eyes of the new authority, she was at best viewed with suspicion.

00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:01.280
Oh, of course.

00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:05.440
She actually did continue her humanitarian work in Poland.

00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:14.079
She worked in social welfare for decades, helping orphans, the elderly, um, even assisting war prostitutes to rehabilitate.

00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:19.199
But official recognition for her wartime deeds were was largely suppressed.

00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:19.840
Okay.

00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:30.480
The communist government did give her a medal in 1946, the gold cross of merit for her war efforts in saving Jews, perhaps as a brief token gesture.

00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:31.039
Yeah.

00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:33.760
And like just the immediate aftermath.

00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:37.599
However, after that, her story basically vanished from public view.

00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:38.559
Sure.

00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:44.079
So the communist regime controlled the narrative of the wartime history.

00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:44.639
Okay.

00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:48.960
They emphasized the glory of communist partisans and Soviet liberators.

00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:49.679
Oh boy.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:52.239
Not independent initiatives like Zagoda.

00:38:52.719 --> 00:38:53.199
Right.

00:38:53.519 --> 00:38:58.079
Also, anti-Jewish sentiment sadly persisted in Poland after the war.

00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:02.320
Well, I mean, it's not just going to be erased, unfortunately.

00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:12.159
But the 1960s, there was an open anti-Semitic campaign in Poland during which Irina found herself under an even bigger cloud of distrust.

00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:13.119
Oh boy.

00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:17.039
In 1967, she was fired from her job out of school.

00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:20.000
Due to downsizing sixty seven, you said?

00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:20.480
Mm-hmm.

00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:20.880
Wow.

00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:24.639
Due to downsizing, but probably not.

00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:25.920
Prejudice, but yeah.

00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:26.480
Yeah.

00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:35.119
She later said the events of 1968, when the regime expelled thousands of remaining Jews from the country, left her deeply traumatized and disappointed.

00:39:35.440 --> 00:39:35.920
Sure.

00:39:36.239 --> 00:39:41.840
After the war, Arena was seen as politically suspicious by Poland's new communist regime.

00:39:41.920 --> 00:39:48.079
Her work with the Zagoda, which had ties to the non communist government in exile, made her a target.

00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:48.639
Yep.

00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:54.320
The secret police harassed her, labeled her an enemy of the state, and kept her underwatch.

00:39:54.639 --> 00:39:55.599
Jesus Christ.

00:39:55.840 --> 00:40:06.480
Her daughter was even quietly removed from the university, except The the Warsaw University acceptance list, likely because of Irina's reputation.

00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:07.280
That's too bad.

00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:15.039
However, I read somewhere else as well that her daughter reported personally that she had simply failed to satisfy the admission requirements.

00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:18.000
Maybe she was just being nice to Ma.

00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:19.039
Who knows?

00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:19.760
Maybe.

00:40:19.920 --> 00:40:20.480
Hard to say.

00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:20.880
Yeah.

00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:24.880
So her story didn't fit the official narrative.

00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:28.800
So Poland essentially erased her from public memory for nearly 50 years.

00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:29.679
Wow.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:38.639
While Oskar Schindler became famous, Irina's rescue of 2,500 children remained mostly unknown.

00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:40.559
She didn't seek attention.

00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:41.920
She didn't write a memoir.

00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:43.199
She didn't promote herself.

00:40:43.280 --> 00:40:45.360
She just kept working and raised her own three kids.

00:40:45.679 --> 00:40:46.880
She didn't write a screenplay.

00:40:47.039 --> 00:40:47.360
No.

00:40:47.599 --> 00:40:49.119
Not saying Schindler did, but.

00:40:49.599 --> 00:40:51.599
In Poland, no one knew her name.

00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:55.039
Zagoda's story was barely acknowledged.

00:40:55.199 --> 00:41:02.239
The whole part of history sat buried until three teenagers in Kansas dug it up.

00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:03.840
How'd they dug it up?

00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:05.280
Let's find out.

00:41:05.519 --> 00:41:18.079
In 1999, in a small town in Kansas, a high school teacher named Norman Conard gave his students a short clipping from a 1994 U.S.

00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:26.159
News and World Report article titled The Other Schindlers, which mentioned a one-line fact.

00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:31.119
A Polish woman named Irina Sendler has saved 2,500 children from the War Salghetto.

00:41:31.440 --> 00:41:31.920
Interesting.

00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:36.800
The teacher and students were a little skeptical, like 2,500, clearly that's a typo.

00:41:37.280 --> 00:41:38.639
Must have been 250.

00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:39.280
Sure.

00:41:39.440 --> 00:41:43.199
Um, I mean, Schindler was famous for over a thousand.

00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:48.880
You know, 2500, that seems seems a huge number.

00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:49.679
Yeah.

00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:57.360
So intrigued, three students, Megan, Elizabeth, and Sabrina, decided to research Arena for a history project.

00:41:57.599 --> 00:41:57.920
Okay.

00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:00.880
At first they found really sparse information.

00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:12.880
They dug deeper, reaching out to archives, organizations, and they discovered not only was it a true story, but Irene Sandler was still alive.

00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:14.320
In 1999?

00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:16.719
Wow, so she would have been 89.

00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:17.920
89 years old.

00:42:18.880 --> 00:42:22.400
Retired social worker living in a modest apartment in Warsaw.

00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:23.920
Oh, so she was still there.

00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:24.559
That's crazy.

00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:28.400
The students wrote to her, and Irina, with the help of a translator, wrote back.

00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:29.360
Oh, that's awesome.

00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:37.679
The Kansas girls asked her, how did she, a young woman not much older than they were, find the courage to do what she did?

00:42:38.079 --> 00:42:42.239
In response, Irina repeated the lesson her father gave her so many years before.

00:42:42.400 --> 00:42:48.800
Quote, My parents taught me that if a man is drowning, it is irrelevant what is his religion or nationality.

00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:50.159
One must help him.

00:42:50.480 --> 00:42:51.119
Yep.

00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:57.920
So as the students pieced together Irina's life, they decided to turn it into a sh uh like a short play.

00:42:58.159 --> 00:42:58.400
Sure.

00:42:58.559 --> 00:43:00.400
And they called it Life in a Jar.

00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:01.199
Okay.

00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:05.360
Um the play was a simple 10-minute performance.

00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:15.360
Um, but these American teens told the story of Arena's pursuing, uh, excuse me, persuading parents, smuggling children in sex, burying the names in jars.

00:43:15.519 --> 00:43:15.760
Yeah.

00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:24.559
They even had a line in the play quoting Irina's father about the drowning man, and Irina's own quote that she wasn't a hero, which she had said many, many times throughout her life.

00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:25.280
She's no hero.

00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:28.880
Well, most actual heroes are gonna say they're not heroes.

00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:30.719
And you know, she was a fucking hero.

00:43:31.039 --> 00:43:34.480
They first performed at a state competition where they won.

00:43:34.719 --> 00:43:35.199
Oh, nice.

00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:40.559
They even performed it at National History Day in Washington, D.C., and it's starting getting some attention.

00:43:40.719 --> 00:43:40.960
Oh.

00:43:41.360 --> 00:43:49.440
News of the Kansas Students Project filtered back to Poland, and in 2001, the students actually traveled to meet Irina Sendler in person.

00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:51.199
Oh, she's still alive in 2001.

00:43:51.440 --> 00:43:51.920
Good for her.

00:43:52.079 --> 00:43:52.559
Good on her.

00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:55.840
By this time, Irina was in her 90s and in fragile health.

00:43:55.920 --> 00:44:02.639
But when these young girls flew across the ocean, um, and they performed life in a jar for her, she was deeply moved.

00:44:02.880 --> 00:44:03.599
I'm sure.

00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:06.480
The Polish media took note of this event.

00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:13.440
American school kids rediscovering a Polish heroine from Poland itself had largely forgotten.

00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:14.800
Or buried.

00:44:15.039 --> 00:44:15.360
Yeah.

00:44:15.519 --> 00:44:16.079
I mean, really.

00:44:16.320 --> 00:44:19.599
This sparked a wider interest in Irvina's story with Poland.

00:44:20.239 --> 00:44:23.920
Um, other hidden rescuers started coming out with their tales.

00:44:24.159 --> 00:44:24.800
Oh, that's nice.

00:44:24.960 --> 00:44:25.280
Yeah.

00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:30.719
So from 2001 onward, Irina Sandler's name became to rise out of obscurity.

00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:34.159
She received Poland's highest honors.

00:44:34.320 --> 00:44:42.159
In 2003, she was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's greatest civilian decoration in a public ceremony.

00:44:42.400 --> 00:44:42.960
That's cool.

00:44:43.199 --> 00:44:45.360
In 2007, now in her late 90s.

00:44:45.599 --> 00:44:46.239
Jesus Christ.

00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:55.119
Irina was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize with a group of Polish and Israeli lawmakers putting her name forward.

00:44:55.440 --> 00:44:56.239
That's fantastic.

00:44:57.599 --> 00:44:58.239
She did not win.

00:44:58.400 --> 00:44:59.119
That's okay, though.

00:44:59.280 --> 00:45:01.280
Um, Al Gore actually won that year.

00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:02.719
I know.

00:45:03.039 --> 00:45:05.440
For that dumb fucking movie that's not even real.

00:45:05.679 --> 00:45:06.480
God damn it.

00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:13.360
She was made an honorary citizen of Israel and of Warsaw and was honored by institutions around the world.

00:45:13.679 --> 00:45:14.239
I'm sorry.

00:45:14.400 --> 00:45:19.039
How the fuck did Al Gore beat fucking Irena?

00:45:19.360 --> 00:45:23.199
That is a fucking travesty of fucking epic proportions.

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:24.800
Seriously.

00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:26.880
That shouldn't have been part of my research.

00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:32.639
It shouldn't have been because I honestly thought you were gonna ask me who did win that year, so I looked it up.

00:45:32.960 --> 00:45:36.639
No, you you should have skipped it because that it would have made me less angry.

00:45:36.800 --> 00:45:37.760
Because I'm sorry.

00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:39.920
His shit is bullshit.

00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:42.639
Look it up, believe what you want to believe.

00:45:42.800 --> 00:45:43.599
I don't care.

00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:46.159
This is my opinion, Bradley's opinion.

00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:47.440
Fuck that guy.

00:45:47.679 --> 00:45:52.320
And the shit that he spewed out that everyone ate up when he beat her.

00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:53.760
Fuck that.

00:45:54.320 --> 00:45:54.639
Okay.

00:45:55.280 --> 00:46:01.199
So the Kansas students I just want to say that's Kay's way of railing Brad like reigning Bradley.

00:46:01.599 --> 00:46:02.639
So okay.

00:46:02.960 --> 00:46:09.760
The Kansas student students continue to perform Life in Out Jar hundreds of times around US, Canada, and Poland.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:10.320
Nice.

00:46:10.559 --> 00:46:16.880
A book was written about their journey and a Hallmark movie, The Courageous Heart of Irina Sendler aired in 2009.

00:46:17.119 --> 00:46:18.639
I fucking hate the Hallmark Channel.

00:46:18.880 --> 00:46:21.840
Anna Packin starred as Irina Sendler.

00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:23.039
I like Anna Packwin.

00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:26.079
A documentary um documentary.

00:46:26.239 --> 00:46:27.440
I was gonna say what?

00:46:27.840 --> 00:46:32.320
A documentary followed, and schools and streets in Poland were named after her.

00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:33.119
Nice.

00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:40.960
And her final years, Irina Sendler was honored around the world, but she always made it clear that she didn't do it alone.

00:46:41.280 --> 00:46:48.559
No, of course she didn't, but she was integral to the the the savior of 2,500 children.

00:46:48.639 --> 00:46:56.719
I mean, that's I mean, yeah, you clearly did not do it alone, but you were the architect of most of this stuff, honestly.

00:46:57.039 --> 00:47:00.960
So I mean, I understand she's trying to be humble, and that's fucking great.

00:47:01.199 --> 00:47:03.119
Kneel before God, Indiana Jones.

00:47:03.199 --> 00:47:04.159
You wouldn't get it.

00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:15.599
But um she clearly was a huge part to this, and she there's so many children that um lived because of her.

00:47:15.840 --> 00:47:19.280
And yeah, their family died, and that obviously fucking sucks.

00:47:19.599 --> 00:47:22.320
But still, fuck Al Gore.

00:47:23.760 --> 00:47:33.519
She accredited her team of volunteers, the Polish families who hid children, the nuns who took them in, and the parents who made the impossible decision to let their kids go.

00:47:33.760 --> 00:47:34.159
Right.

00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:44.079
Later in life, she said the honors felt bittersweet because her co-workers were gone and the world had only learned their story because a group of American high schoolers dug it up.

00:47:44.320 --> 00:47:47.119
That's I mean, still, that's fantastic, though.

00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:51.599
She died in 2008 at 98 years old.

00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:52.719
She just died.

00:47:53.039 --> 00:47:56.079
I was gonna I was just gonna ask, and I was waiting for you to say because I figured you would.

00:47:56.320 --> 00:47:57.840
I was hoping she made it to 100.

00:47:58.159 --> 00:48:02.159
Some of the children she rescued attended her funeral, now elderly themselves.

00:48:02.480 --> 00:48:03.760
Well, yeah, obviously.

00:48:03.920 --> 00:48:05.039
Jesus Christ.

00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:09.280
The world, she said in her 90s, is still in a sea of blood.

00:48:09.440 --> 00:48:09.599
Yep.

00:48:09.840 --> 00:48:13.920
But it can be better if there's love, tolerance, and humility.

00:48:14.320 --> 00:48:17.679
And if she could tell us anything now, it might be this.

00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:22.159
You don't have to be a hero, just jump in and help the drowning person.

00:48:23.199 --> 00:48:25.280
And she's so right.

00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:28.320
And I wish there was more people like Irina.

00:48:29.280 --> 00:48:35.280
Like, if if I saw somebody in need, I would do the the best I can to help.

00:48:36.239 --> 00:48:42.639
I don't know what resources I could provide them or whatever it might be, but there's so many people that just blinders.

00:48:42.960 --> 00:48:43.119
Yeah.

00:48:43.679 --> 00:48:44.000
Phone.

00:48:44.400 --> 00:48:45.840
Ooh, I gotta like.

00:48:46.480 --> 00:48:49.679
And don't get me wrong, like, yeah, we like when people like our stuff.

00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:52.320
But there's people that just obsess about it.

00:48:52.400 --> 00:48:57.679
And it's just so fucking infuriating because it's like, look around, go to nature.

00:48:58.000 --> 00:49:00.079
I don't know, help somebody out.

00:49:00.719 --> 00:49:04.159
Go to a soup kitchen and help out, or whatever the fuck it might be.

00:49:04.320 --> 00:49:05.360
I don't fucking know.

00:49:06.079 --> 00:49:07.039
I could do better.

00:49:07.199 --> 00:49:07.760
I know that.

00:49:07.920 --> 00:49:09.920
I try and help people out where I can though.

00:49:10.079 --> 00:49:14.079
But either way, gotta help yourself first.

00:49:14.639 --> 00:49:20.719
I went to the BP near my house on Christmas Eve to get some chips.

00:49:21.519 --> 00:49:24.880
And the person who was working, I see her all the time there.

00:49:25.280 --> 00:49:25.599
Sure.

00:49:25.840 --> 00:49:29.760
Um, but I gave her ten dollars and she's like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:49:29.840 --> 00:49:33.440
And I said, and I just put it in front of her and I was just like, Thanks for working today.

00:49:33.519 --> 00:49:34.239
And I just left.

00:49:34.320 --> 00:49:36.800
She's like, I heard her like that's so sweet.

00:49:37.119 --> 00:49:44.480
I was like, but I I know what it was like to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and it's it's not a good time.

00:49:44.800 --> 00:49:45.360
It sucks.

00:49:45.599 --> 00:49:50.079
That's when you should be with family, and that's when you should be, you know, thinking of others.

00:49:50.159 --> 00:49:57.440
And so once we've wrapped this up, I work Christmas Eve, I'll look for my ten dollars.

00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:00.159
You did work Christmas Eve, I know.

00:50:00.719 --> 00:50:03.360
I barely worked, I worked an hour and a half.

00:50:03.679 --> 00:50:05.599
It's not I'm just obviously joking.

00:50:05.760 --> 00:50:12.480
But no, I I applaud the people who have jobs where unfortunately they have to work them in those situations.

00:50:13.039 --> 00:50:18.079
I used, you know, I've not compared I never had to work.

00:50:18.480 --> 00:50:20.239
Well no, I I had to work Christmas Eve.

00:50:20.400 --> 00:50:22.000
It was always pretty light, whatever.

00:50:22.239 --> 00:50:24.480
But like Christmas Day, I never had to work.

00:50:25.039 --> 00:50:27.280
Day after Thanksgiving, I always had to work.

00:50:27.679 --> 00:50:30.320
This is the first job I've had where I haven't had to work that.

00:50:30.559 --> 00:50:36.800
So all the people that have to work in that shitty schedule, but that's what the job is, good on you.

00:50:37.199 --> 00:50:39.599
Um someday you probably won't have to.

00:50:39.840 --> 00:50:41.599
Someday, hopefully you won't have to.

00:50:41.760 --> 00:50:45.519
Um, otherwise, and I'm sure there's some people that actually don't mind it.

00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:50.800
There's always those people, but you know, I mean, thank you for what you do.

00:50:51.280 --> 00:50:52.320
Honestly, really.

00:50:52.800 --> 00:50:53.760
You're no Irena.

00:50:54.079 --> 00:50:55.039
I'm just kidding.

00:50:56.719 --> 00:51:00.159
No, I mean what she did was pretty, pretty fucking fantastic.

00:51:00.239 --> 00:51:03.199
So we can't really like take that away from her.

00:51:03.280 --> 00:51:09.360
But no, the people that do what they have to do, good on them because you know what you have to do and you're doing it.

00:51:09.440 --> 00:51:10.880
So absolutely.

00:51:11.840 --> 00:51:14.079
Well, I suppose.

00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:16.559
All right, buffoons.

00:51:16.639 --> 00:51:17.920
That's it for today's episode.

00:51:18.239 --> 00:51:22.320
Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time.

00:51:22.559 --> 00:51:24.719
Feeling hungry for more buffoonery?

00:51:24.880 --> 00:51:29.679
Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

00:51:29.920 --> 00:51:31.280
Hit us up on social media.

00:51:31.440 --> 00:51:36.159
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00:51:36.320 --> 00:51:40.639
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00:51:40.800 --> 00:51:43.760
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00:51:43.920 --> 00:51:48.639
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00:51:48.880 --> 00:51:52.239
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00:51:52.400 --> 00:51:55.039
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