For Irena to enter the Ghetto legally, she was able to obtain a pass from Warsaw's Epidemic Control Department and she visited the Ghetto daily, bring food clothing, and medicines for the families living in side the camp. But despite Irena's efforts, five thousand people were dying each month from starvation and disease, and she decided to help the Jewish children out of the camp altogether. As a young mother herself, it was very hard for Irena to persuade the parents to part with their children in hopes that their child would live through the war. "The one question every parent asked me was 'Can you guarantee they will live?' We had to admit honestly that we could not, as we did not even know if we would succeed in leaving the ghetto that day. The only guarantee," she said, "was that the children would most likely die if they stayed." However, finding foster families willing to risk their lives and take in the children was harder. Still, Irena had remarkable cooperation when placing the children. "No one ever refused to take a child from me," she said.
Irena began to smuggle children out in an ambulance. She then took out some in gunnysacks or body bags. Some were buried in bags of goods. A mechanic took babies out in his toolbox. Some kids were carried out in coffins or potato sacks, while others entered a church in the Ghetto which had two entrances. One entrance was inside the camp, and the other led to the Aryan side of Warsaw. The children entered the church as a Jew, and exited as Christians. Irena "sent most of the children to religious establishments. [She] knew [she] could count on the Sisters."
Irena recruited at least one person from each of the ten Social Welfare Department centers to help her create false documents with forged signatures. Irena Sendler and her team successfully smuggled almost
2,500 Jewish children to safety and gave them temporary new identities. They placed the children in homes, orphanages, and convents. Irena carefully noted, in coded form, the children's original names and their new ones. She kept the only record of their names in jars buried underneath an apple tree in a neighbor's backyard hoping that someday she could dig up the jars, locate the children, and tell them about their past. In total, the jars contained the names of about 2,500 children.
Irena began to smuggle children out in an ambulance. She then took out some in gunnysacks or body bags. Some were buried in bags of goods. A mechanic took babies out in his toolbox. Some kids were carried out in coffins or potato sacks, while others entered a church in the Ghetto which had two entrances. One entrance was inside the camp, and the other led to the Aryan side of Warsaw. The children entered the church as a Jew, and exited as Christians. Irena "sent most of the children to religious establishments. [She] knew [she] could count on the Sisters."
Irena recruited at least one person from each of the ten Social Welfare Department centers to help her create false documents with forged signatures. Irena Sendler and her team successfully smuggled almost
2,500 Jewish children to safety and gave them temporary new identities. They placed the children in homes, orphanages, and convents. Irena carefully noted, in coded form, the children's original names and their new ones. She kept the only record of their names in jars buried underneath an apple tree in a neighbor's backyard hoping that someday she could dig up the jars, locate the children, and tell them about their past. In total, the jars contained the names of about 2,500 children.