Life In A Jar: Irena Sendler Project

The Germans were deporting 5 to 10 thousand Jews a day at the Umschlagplatz. Were the Jews would be tightly packed in cattle cars and shipped off to death camps like treblinka were they would be sent to labor or the gas chambers were you executed. Death camps would try to hide what’s really going on. The death camps would say turn in all your valuables so you can be delouced but what they really are doing is sending you to your death.People that are war profiteers would sell some of the valuables that were collected at the death camps. So Irena was terrified when they started deportation she was afraid that all the kids that she put in the orphanage in the ghetto. Several days after wards there was tremence fire fights that broke out all over the ghetto. So Irena sprung into action thinking that the Germans would be distracted from all the fighting so that Irena can smuggle more Jewish kids into the Aryan side. Irena looked at danger straight in the face and smuggled kids through the sewer. Once the Nazi got wind of people smuggling Jews through the sewer they started putting posing the sewers so in anybody went down there they would die. That day Irena smuggled almost 200 kids throughout these

Jews have perished because of their beliefs since the beginning of time but never have so many Jews been persecuted worldwide as they were in World War II. Anne Frank’s diary reaches a place within all of our hearts because it reminds us how easily the innocents can suffer. Sometimes we may choose to close our eyes or look the other way when unjustifiable things happen in our society and Anne’s tale reminds us that ignorance, in part, claimed her life. Sadly, her story is but one of many of those who died in the Holocaust and as with other Jews, her fate was determined by the country she lived in, her sex and her age.

This project is about a brave woman who survived the Holocaust.Eva Galler was born in january 1,1924 and she died on january 5,2006. She was the oldest of eight children.Her father,Israel Vagel,was the head of the jewish community in their town.Eva’s family were well off compared to the other.Eva,unlike most girls at the time,she went to high school,educated herself and got employed at the local office as a secretary.

As the war dwindled down, the Bilecki family lingered to their Polish home. Though they were rich in heart, the friction between the slips of tinted cash and the jangling of the metal coins were the only sound that seemed to be worth hearing. Sadly, for them there was a lack of it. The Jews that they saved acted as their guardian angel, as the Bilecki clan did for them. From all around the world, across the sea, the Jews kept them from malnutrition and naked chills. It wasn’t until 1998 that the secret of the Bilecki kindness was unveiled. Not only did they get the recognition they deserve, the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous had planned an infinitesimal surprise. Waiting, as the sounds of aircrafts roared, stood five of the survivors the Bilecki family had guided to asylum. The vulnerability of the raw moment was exposed as they shared their tears. The applause throbbed emphatically like the robust flapping of an angel’s wings. Their life saving feat did not go unacknowledged by the Righteous Among the Nations. Their unselfish deeds of valor and grace set themselves into being heroes.

The Holocaust, a morbid atrocity that made people question humanity, was the cause of millions of deaths. One of those victims of this brutality was Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis along with her family. Although she was merely ordinary, Anne Frank kept a diary which became a significant, historical artifact in the modern world as it details her account of concealing her identity from the outside world. Her story, told in an innocent perspective, allows individuals to reflect the dreadful events of the Holocaust and acknowledge how far we have come since then. Even though she died along with millions of other victims from the Holocaust, her spirit still exists thanks to her articulately written words in her diary which is now considered one of the most famous works of literature. Anne Frank’s legacy still lives on today because her story provides a primary source of a dark period in history, insightful contemplation of humanity, and motivation for people to stand up against unjustified persecution.

No one has survived to tell her story firsthand, but over many years historians have been able to piece together the incredible truth. Karolina Juszczykowska was born in Budków, Poland, in 1898. There is little information on Juszczykowska’s childhood, but we do know that she had a very modest one. During her testimony in court she was quoted as saying, "I never went to school. Until I was 13 years old I lived with my parents, and then went to Germany where I worked for 5 years for a farmer in Mecklenburg [a region in Northern Germany]… then I returned to Budkow, where I stayed with my sister until 1934. I helped my sister with farm work. In 1934 I moved to Tomaschow. Until the outbreak of the war I made a living in road construction. Subsequently I had different jobs, as laundress, maid, etc., and until my arrest I worked in the kitchen of OT (Organization Todt) in Tomaszow.” (http://www.yadvashem.org) Karolina told her interrogators that six weeks prior to her arrest she had met two young men on the street. They asked her to hide them, and they promised to pay her 300 Zloty per week for both of them. She decided to accept their offer. Karolina stated she hid them out of a need for money, not necessarily to help. They slept on the floor at night, and when she would go to work, she locked them in her small apartment. Juszczykowska told her interrogators that one of her

“For nearly 50 years I don’t and can’t speak about what has happened to me… I was silent when I was hidden and I stay silent even when I am not” (Rein Kaufman). Because the memories of her childhood were so painful, Lola did not tell anyone what had happened; not her uncle, who raised her after the holocaust, not her husband, and not her children. Lola decided to share her story in May of 1991 when she met Jane Marks, a reporter who was writing a book on hidden children. After Lola is handed the microphone at a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reception and told, “Go ahead and talk”, she tells her story once again - but this time in public. “My silence, it seems, has been fully broken” (Rein Kaufman). Since that moment, Lola has spoken many times at synagogues and schools. Lola has shown courage and trust by sharing her story, but that wasn’t all she

Born in Poland, Henia Weit was the youngest of nine children in her family. She lived in a town by the name of Sambor. Unfortunately, the town was bombarded by German soldiers shortly after Hitler started his reign of terror on the Jews. Henia’s family was forced to do laborious work in a ghetto until they were all deported to a concentration camp. Fortunately for Henia, she was able to escape and never went to the concentration camp herself. Instead, she had to survive for several years alone, with only her sister to turn to.

In The Story of Blima: A Holocaust Survivor, author Shirley Russak Wachtel presents scenes depicting the worst that human beings are capable of, and the best. She skillfully contrasts her mother’s suffering at the hands of the Nazis with the loving treatment that Blima receives from three strong women. In the course of the story, Blima receives loving support from her mother; from the labor guard, Gizella; and from her sister-in-law, Ruschia.

As a mother your biggest mission in life is to be a protector and everything that your children will ever need and that’s exactly what Sonia was. June 30, 1941 Nazis gained control of the town Zhetel, a small town in Poland that Sonia and her family resided in. The Nazis immediately began to persecute the Jewish population. On July 23, 1941, the Nazis executed 120 prominent Jews. Among those innocent lives was Sonias brother. On February 22, 1942, the Germans ordered that all the Jews in Zhetel be forced into a ghetto called among these names: The Zdzięcioł Ghetto, Dzyatlava Ghetto or Zhetel Ghetto. Two months later they rounded up and killed about 1000 Jewish residents. After this first slaughter, on April 30, a few dozen people escaped from the ghetto into the nearby woods and began to organize into partisan groups. On August 6, 1942, the Germans began the final liquidation of Zhetel. Sam, Sonias husband, was rounded up in a mass sweep of the town and locked together with hundreds of other Jews in the town's synagogue. In the middle of all the confusion, he and a few others hid for about two days and nights. Once it was quiet, they escaped into the woods and joined up with the Jewish Partisans. Meanwhile Sonia hid with her two children in a hiding place her husband established soon after World War 2. They would stay there for three nights with other friends and family until the Nazi massacres

When Irene Safran was only twenty-one years old, her carefree life ended in the face of the Holocaust. Born to two Jewish parents as one of ten children-- four girls and six boys in all-- in Munkachevo, Czechoslovakia around the year 1923, her world changed in early April 1944 when she and her family were transferred to a Jewish ghetto. For the next year, Irene's life was a series of deaths, losses, and humiliations no human should ever have to suffer, culminating, years later, with a triumphant ending. Her story is proof that the human spirit can triumph over all manner of adversity and evil.

Her story is an example of a person who struggled with adversity but searched for a reason to hope. She has used her remarkable survival as an inspiration for those who have no reason to believe they can overcome struggles. She has a foundation named Citizenship Counts which teaches students about their rights and the importance of their citizenship. She has written many books about her experiences and her belief that hope will help a person overcome darkness. She travels the world today telling people her story to increase their knowledge of the Holocaust. Her story of survival serves of as an inspiration to people who are suffering and are looking for a reason to have hope.¹

Between Dignity and Despair, a book written by Marion A. Kaplan, published in 1998, gives us a portrait of Jewish life in Nazi Germany by the astounding memoirs, diaries, interviews with survivors, and letters of Jewish women and men. The book is written in chronological order of events, from the daily life of German Jewish families prior to when the Holocaust began to the days when rights were completely taken away; from the beginning of forced labor and exile to the repercussion of the war. Kaplan tries to include details from each significant event during the time of the Holocaust. Kaplan

Each of these histories reveal a story of suffering that is endured by both Gentile and Jew, but also a story of humanity and salvation. In Five Chimneys: A woman Survivor’s True Story of Auschwitz, Olga Lengyel tells of her family assisting other Jews fleeing the Nazi military. Later, after her own ordeals in Auschwitz, she was saved by citizens in a small Polish village. An essay written by Vera Laska is included in Women and the Holocaust: Different Voices, which is an anthology of essays about women in the Holocaust. In addition to the many stories of survivors and rescuers, I am using several scholarly articles

The Holocaust is a very large topic with many subtopics within, which many people have never heard of. One in particular is the Hidden Children of the Holocaust. Like a majority of individuals, I never heard of this topic before, until I started my inquiry work. Hiding children during the holocaust was an effort to save thousands of children’s lives. The children were hidden in different ways, either with false identities, underground, and with or without their parents. The children with false identities were allowed to participate in everyday life activities, like attend school and socialize with children their age, which in the long run this lead to less emotional and mental issues. However, the children that were hidden and not allowed to leave their hiding spots often faced boredom, pain, and torment. Some children were capable of being hid with their parents while other children were not. Depending on the situation the child was in, depends on the effects it had on the child during this time. In this paper, I will be discussing works by two scholars, Natalia Aleksiun’s Gender and Daily Lives of Jews in Hiding in Eastern Galicia and Judy Mitchell’s Children of the Holocaust. Aleksiun’s article talks about the daily lives of Jews in hiding and also about how they prepared their hideouts. Aleksiun’s article mainly focuses on children that were hidden with their families. In Mitchell’s article, he focuses on the hidden children and gives examples/survivor stories on what it