Do you know who Irena Sendler is? You should.
She was an activist of Polish Underground and Polish anti-Holocaust resistance in Warsaw, a courageous woman who was responsible for saving the lives of 2500 children in the brutality of Hitler's regime.
During the early 1940's was a Catholic social worker who had gone into the Warsaw ghetto to rescue Jewish kids who were destined either to starve there, or die in death camps. She would sneak the kids past Nazi guards, sometimes hiding them in body bags, or would provide them with false documents - inevitably getting them to Polish families for adoption, or hiding them in convents or orphanages. She also made a list of the children's real names, put them in a jar and buried them, so that some day she could dig them up and find the kids to tell them their true names.
Arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo, she was severely tortured and sentenced to death. She was saved her by bribing the German guards on the way to her execution. Officially, she was listed on public bulletin boards as among those executed.
Even in hiding, she continued her work for the Jewish children
She's now 97, living in a nursing home in Poland.
She has been honored by international Jewish organizations - in 1965 she accorded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem organization in Jerusalem and in 1991 she was made an honorary citizen of Israel.
She was awarded Poland's highest distinction, the Order of White Eagle, in Warsaw Monday Nov. 10, 2003, and she was announced as the 2003 winner of the Jan Karski award for Valor and Courage.
She has officially been designated a national hero in Poland and schools are named in her honor. Annual Irena Sendler days are celebrated throughout Europe, and in a few places here.
She was also a candidate for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
She is the woman Al Gore and the officials in Oslo screwed out of deserved recognition for saving lives at risk of her own, so they could further the Alarmist Machine led by Al Gore in some political dance.
If Al had any decency he would have abdicated to someone who deserved it.
We passed up a chance to honor a woman who saved thousands of lives so we could celebrate a guy who wants to save penguins and polar bears, who are not even threatened.
We honored a guy who sells lies and lines his pockets with the profits generated by the fear he generates, over a woman who was tortured and sentenced to death to protect children.
This makes two awards Al should give back.
Who says our priorities are messed up?
I do.
On October 16, 2007 at 6:57 am, SVC Alumnus wrote:
Hear ye!
On October 16, 2007 at 12:52 pm, Perri Nelson wrote:
Priorities are indeed messed up. What a shame.
On October 16, 2007 at 3:50 pm, Red Marilyn wrote:
I agree with you. Her story, and the story of how some high school students memorialized her in a play is very touching. The play tours schools around the country now, educating school kids about Irena Sendler’s story and the Holocaust. It’s called Life in a Jar. Maybe some day, when we are all gone, when perhaps the "global warming" issue is looked at as millennial madness akin to the great medieval scholarly debates about exactly how many dancing angels could be fitted onto the head of a pin, she will still be remembered for her heroism and Al Gore will be a footnote. Some one suggested that the Burmese pro-democracy Monks trumped Mr. Gore and his co-recipients (the IPCC), especially since they were actually involved in working for a more peaceful Burma.
On October 16, 2007 at 3:57 pm, LSU wrote:
The sad irony is that the Monks do not qualify.
You have to be alive to be nominated.
On October 16, 2007 at 6:58 pm, Playin' Possum wrote:
Whatever…
I for one - even if Iam the only one - am sick and tired of hearing about the holocaust. Sick of special gimmes based on holocaust guilt, sick of whether or not, if, how or how much…
I don’t give a rat’s ass if it happened or not.
On October 16, 2007 at 11:11 pm, LSU wrote:
Ah Possum, thanks for being predictible.
As usual you take some idiotic position.
What exactly is the problem with recognizing someone who acted extraordinary in a harsh situation?
Could it be because you would have hidden you sorry butt under you bunk and tried to not be noticed rather then help some kids who would otherwise have died?
Had you been one of those kids who lived due to her risks, you would not be such a callous ass about either her actions, or the holocaust. This is not about proving the holocaust.
This is about honoring the deeds a brave woman.
Free speech is fine Dan, but that does not mean you have to be a jerk,