[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12488-12489]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING KANSANS FOR SHARING IRENA SENDLER'S HEROIC STORY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I want to share a story about the 
value of studying history, the importance of great teachers, the power 
of educating students, and the glory of a life lived in service to 
others.

                              {time}  2120

  In 1999, Norm Conard, a history and social studies teacher in 
Uniontown High School in southeast Kansas came across a clipping from 
U.S. News and World Report explaining the story of Irena Sendler, who 
helped rescue as many as 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. 
Mr. Conard, along with his students, ninth graders Megan Stewart, 
Elizabeth Cambers, Jessica Shelton, and 11th grader Sabrina Coons, 
wondered if the article could just be a misprint.
  Mr. Conard encouraged his students to participate in the National 
History Day and learn more, find out the answer. An initial Internet 
search found just one additional article about Irena Sendler, but the 
students dug deeper and discovered an amazing story that was nearly 
lost to history.
  While searching for Irena's resting place, the students discovered 
that she was, in fact, alive. After many letters were exchanged, the 
Kansas students traveled to Poland to meet Irena in 2001, and they were 
able to visit with her about her heroic work during the Holocaust.
  Irena Sendler was a Catholic social worker living in Poland when the 
Nazis first invaded Warsaw. As early as 1939, Irena began helping Jews 
by offering food and shelter and falsifying documents. When the Nazis 
erected the Warsaw ghetto in 1940 to imprison 450,000 Jews, Irena and 
her collaborators created false papers allowing them access in and out 
of the ghetto.
  During World War II, Irena helped 2,500 Jewish children escape from 
near certain death by sneaking them out of the ghetto. Irena took these 
children to Polish families, orphanages, and convents and recorded a 
list of their names to ensure that their identities were preserved so 
that after the war she could help reunite them with their parents. 
After the records were nearly discovered in her home by the Gestapo, 
she put them in jars and buried them.
  In 1943, Irena was arrested by the Nazis and placed in prison and 
interrogated and tortured. When pressured about the names and locations 
of those she helped, Irena gave a false story that she had created in 
the event of her capture. She was sentenced to death. Unbeknown to her, 
a group called Zegota quietly negotiated with the Nazi executioner for 
her release. Despite her escape, the Nazis publicized Irena's death 
throughout the city. For the remainder of the war, Irena remained 
hidden, just like the children she had helped.
  After the war ended, she dug up the jars and worked to reunite the 
children with their parents. Unfortunately, sadly, most of the parents 
died in the Holocaust.
  The Uniontown students used Irena's story as an inspiration for a 
play called ``Life in a Jar'' to honor her contributions and to share 
her story with the world. Since 1999, these students, along with others 
from southeast Kansas, have presented ``Life in a Jar'' to over 270 
venues around the world, including a performance in Warsaw. They have 
also performed for Holocaust survivors, many of whom were saved by 
Irena.
  Since the students' discovery, Irena has received international 
recognition for her brave work. She was awarded the 2003 Jan Karski 
Award for Valor and Courage. She was recognized by Pope John Paul II 
and the President of Poland. Additionally, Irena was considered for a 
Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Irena passed away in 2008 at the age of 98.
  The students' legacy lives on in Kansas as well. Mr. Conard was 
awarded a grant from the Milken Family Foundation to build a center in 
Fort Scott, Kansas, committed to the teaching of the importance of 
respect, understanding, and religious tolerance, and to develop 
diversity projects about unsung heroes like Irena Sendler. The Lowell 
Milken Center also provides Holocaust lesson plans to teachers and uses 
``Life in a Jar'' to demonstrate what students are capable of 
achieving. In addition, the Center has also produced a DVD to share 
Irena's story.

[[Page 12489]]

Funds raised by the performance of the play and the DVD are for the 
care of those who worked to rescue Jewish children in Poland, like 
Irena.
  When the students from Kansas met Irena, she told them they were 
``continuing the effort she began 50 years ago'' and expressed 
appreciation, as we should, for their work to make this piece of 
history known. Now their efforts to share this story inspire others.
  It is the hope of the project that all who learn of Irena Sendler's 
efforts to save the children of Poland will embrace their classroom 
motto, ``He who changes one person changes the world entire.''

                          ____________________