Page 45 - Issue4-November2017_online_opt
P. 45
“Irena did everything she could so that no 37
Jewish child would be sent back to the
ghetto. In the spring of 1942, an estimated
4,000 children lived alone on the streets
of the Aryan side. Half of them were Jewish.
many years after the war. I will also let you in on the tragedy
of the whole sorry saga – how it happened that, despite Irena’s
efforts to keep accurate lists, at great risk to herself, most of
”Irena’s children were not reunited with their families or with
the Jewish people.
I want to emphasize that Irena was a complicated person,
like all human beings, and to call her a saint would be a dishon-
or to the complexity and difficulty of her truly human choices.
We will see some of this as we learn her story. Let us begin.
Kindness Is All
Irena’s father Dr. Stanislaw Krzyzanowski, lived and practiced
medicine in Otwock. Most Polish doctors refused to treat poor
Jews who could not afford the fee. Her father, though, was a
goodhearted man, who did not turn away poor patients. Since
Otwock was 50 percent Jewish, he became very popular. Irena
made friends and played with many Jewish children growing
up. Tragically, her father died during an epidemic of typhoid fe-
ver in 1917. Irena’s mother struggled and could no longer afford
the fees to send her daughter to school.
When the family’s plight became known in Otwock, a del-
egation of the Jewish community came to her home. “Pani
Krzyzanowsha,” they said, “we will pay for the education of your
daughter.” Pani was the Polish word for a lady. As her young
daughter watched, “Mother dabbed her eyes. ‘No, no,’ she said
firmly. ‘I thank you very much, but I am young, I will support
my daughter.’” The family moved to a small town where Ire-
na’s mother’s family lived, Piotrow Trybunalski, not far from
Warsaw.
u 410 358 8509 u
Jewish child would be sent back to the
ghetto. In the spring of 1942, an estimated
4,000 children lived alone on the streets
of the Aryan side. Half of them were Jewish.
many years after the war. I will also let you in on the tragedy
of the whole sorry saga – how it happened that, despite Irena’s
efforts to keep accurate lists, at great risk to herself, most of
”Irena’s children were not reunited with their families or with
the Jewish people.
I want to emphasize that Irena was a complicated person,
like all human beings, and to call her a saint would be a dishon-
or to the complexity and difficulty of her truly human choices.
We will see some of this as we learn her story. Let us begin.
Kindness Is All
Irena’s father Dr. Stanislaw Krzyzanowski, lived and practiced
medicine in Otwock. Most Polish doctors refused to treat poor
Jews who could not afford the fee. Her father, though, was a
goodhearted man, who did not turn away poor patients. Since
Otwock was 50 percent Jewish, he became very popular. Irena
made friends and played with many Jewish children growing
up. Tragically, her father died during an epidemic of typhoid fe-
ver in 1917. Irena’s mother struggled and could no longer afford
the fees to send her daughter to school.
When the family’s plight became known in Otwock, a del-
egation of the Jewish community came to her home. “Pani
Krzyzanowsha,” they said, “we will pay for the education of your
daughter.” Pani was the Polish word for a lady. As her young
daughter watched, “Mother dabbed her eyes. ‘No, no,’ she said
firmly. ‘I thank you very much, but I am young, I will support
my daughter.’” The family moved to a small town where Ire-
na’s mother’s family lived, Piotrow Trybunalski, not far from
Warsaw.
u 410 358 8509 u
