Thanks to my brother for calling my attention to this remarkable woman, Irene Sendler.
I had not heard of her before.
She rescued 2,500 children from certain death in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.
It is always important to remember that there are ordinary people who rise to do extraordinary things, who show courage at great peril to themselves, on behalf of others.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Fear is contagious, but so is courage.
The ed deformers would have us remain isolated in our fear – fear of losing what rights we still have, of losing our jobs, of our schools closing – but they are far more vulnerable than they or anybody else realizes.
Greedy, power-hungry people want us to fear them and each other, so that their insatiable appetites and will to power are constantly fed, but by standing up to them together – and sometimes laughing in their faces at the absurdity of their premises – their hold over us collapses.
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sounds like the ending of Nabokov’s “Invitation to a Beheading.” He is on his way to be decapitated, for a crime he knows not. And he looks around and realizes these people are ridiculous, and they fall over, like cardboard figures.
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What an amazing story. To continue working for children even after she was tortured and sentenced to death–truly inspiring.
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Irena had such a kind smile.
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Goodness, I meant to have just the link.
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Did you know that part of the reason that we know very much about Irena Sendler is because of a group of history students and their teacher in Kansas? They discovered that she was still alive, travelled to Poland and interviewed her, and created a play that dramatized her life.
That sort of thing SHOULD be happening in schools. True learning and working for justice. Not test scores.
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Several years ago the student group from Kansas performed “Life in a Jar” for the Texas Elementary Principal’s annual conference. i do not know if this student group still performs this presentation, but if they do it is more than worth the cost to have them come to your school. It is a gripping performance that would give students a rare insight into the horrors of WWII as well as an understanding of the inhumanity that people are capable of. In addition, your students may well be inspired to produce their own project as these students did. ( The Irena Sendler Project,[20][21])
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