Page 49 - Issue4-November2017_online_opt
P. 49
Irena Sendler
be sent back to the ghetto. In the spring of 1942, an estimated Smhaabkbeoups ©WWW
4,000 children lived alone on the streets of the Aryan side. Half
of them were Jewish. Some were homeless orphans trying to BEAUTIFUL SHOWROOM
survive by begging or stealing. But desperate families were al- WITH LARGE SELECTION
ready sending well-loved but starving children across the wall,
children like the one that Irka Schultz discovered. In 1942, Wan- OF EUROPEAN HAIR
da Ziemska was eight years old. “At the entrance of the sewer I WIGS AND PRECUTS
said goodbye to Father. The journey through the sewers was
quite complicated. At times it looked like a dirty river; I couldn’t We carry Clary, Miri and
reach from one rung to another.” Sari wigs.
With Irena’s epidemic control, it was not illegal to take out Wash & Sets • Updos
a child who was desperately ill. If fake cases were discovered, • Haircuts
however, the risks were colossal. Giving a Jewish child a piece of
bread meant death for both the giver and the receiver. Color • Wig Repairs
Youngsters with tuberculosis could be transferred by ambu- Sunday 10 am-6 pm
lance to one of the remaining Jewish sanitariums in Otwock. Monday 9:30 am-4 pm and 6:30-9 pm
Irena was walking in her father’s footsteps. Sometimes a cough Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 9:30 am-5 pm
was not tuberculosis, and a child would disappear into a friend’s
house in their old village. If the child was a female with blond Friday 9:30 am-1 pm
hair and blue eyes, it wasn’t so hard to integrate her into the Walk ins Available
orphanage. But what if a child looked “Jewish”? These children
could not be seen for an instant outside of the ghetto. They were 708 Reisterstown Road
brought to the orphanage in burlap sacks slung over a work-
man’s shoulders and delivered to the back door as laundry or Please call for an appointment
potatoes. Then homes had to be found where these children
would never go outside so as to never be seen by neighbors. 410-602-WIGS (9447)
The Gestapo soon grew suspicious. They searched the official
records for scraps of evidence, but the real official records were
never in the file cabinet. When the paperwork frustrated them,
the Gestapo thugs held guns to people’s heads and bullied all the
staff with threats of mass executions. By this time, Irena was the
head of a citizen’s army of nearly two dozen people drawn from
the political underground, the welfare offices, and the Jewish
community inside the ghetto. The risks with that number of peo-
ple were enormous, and no one was in more danger than Irena.
In the spring of 1942, terrible rumors spread in Warsaw of
death in the “east.” Irena knew she had to find ways to save a
much larger number of children. She needed help to place even
more children with foster families. One person had the power
to make this happen: the social welfare administrator, Jan Do-
braczynski. Irena was worried that she could not trust a man
with politics so different from her own, a man with anti-Semitic
feelings. She knew that Jan was strongly Catholic, but he was
as committed as any of them to the underground Polish state
that they were all building. The growing numbers of children
they were smuggling out of the ghetto was unmanageable with-
out someone higher up in the orphanage division helping with
placements and paperwork. Irena at last took Jan Dobraczynski
into her secret.
Here is how Jan described what happened: “One day my staff,
namely social workers, came to me about this matter. The whole
group had for some time, of their own volition, been running
u 410 358 8509 u 41
be sent back to the ghetto. In the spring of 1942, an estimated Smhaabkbeoups ©WWW
4,000 children lived alone on the streets of the Aryan side. Half
of them were Jewish. Some were homeless orphans trying to BEAUTIFUL SHOWROOM
survive by begging or stealing. But desperate families were al- WITH LARGE SELECTION
ready sending well-loved but starving children across the wall,
children like the one that Irka Schultz discovered. In 1942, Wan- OF EUROPEAN HAIR
da Ziemska was eight years old. “At the entrance of the sewer I WIGS AND PRECUTS
said goodbye to Father. The journey through the sewers was
quite complicated. At times it looked like a dirty river; I couldn’t We carry Clary, Miri and
reach from one rung to another.” Sari wigs.
With Irena’s epidemic control, it was not illegal to take out Wash & Sets • Updos
a child who was desperately ill. If fake cases were discovered, • Haircuts
however, the risks were colossal. Giving a Jewish child a piece of
bread meant death for both the giver and the receiver. Color • Wig Repairs
Youngsters with tuberculosis could be transferred by ambu- Sunday 10 am-6 pm
lance to one of the remaining Jewish sanitariums in Otwock. Monday 9:30 am-4 pm and 6:30-9 pm
Irena was walking in her father’s footsteps. Sometimes a cough Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 9:30 am-5 pm
was not tuberculosis, and a child would disappear into a friend’s
house in their old village. If the child was a female with blond Friday 9:30 am-1 pm
hair and blue eyes, it wasn’t so hard to integrate her into the Walk ins Available
orphanage. But what if a child looked “Jewish”? These children
could not be seen for an instant outside of the ghetto. They were 708 Reisterstown Road
brought to the orphanage in burlap sacks slung over a work-
man’s shoulders and delivered to the back door as laundry or Please call for an appointment
potatoes. Then homes had to be found where these children
would never go outside so as to never be seen by neighbors. 410-602-WIGS (9447)
The Gestapo soon grew suspicious. They searched the official
records for scraps of evidence, but the real official records were
never in the file cabinet. When the paperwork frustrated them,
the Gestapo thugs held guns to people’s heads and bullied all the
staff with threats of mass executions. By this time, Irena was the
head of a citizen’s army of nearly two dozen people drawn from
the political underground, the welfare offices, and the Jewish
community inside the ghetto. The risks with that number of peo-
ple were enormous, and no one was in more danger than Irena.
In the spring of 1942, terrible rumors spread in Warsaw of
death in the “east.” Irena knew she had to find ways to save a
much larger number of children. She needed help to place even
more children with foster families. One person had the power
to make this happen: the social welfare administrator, Jan Do-
braczynski. Irena was worried that she could not trust a man
with politics so different from her own, a man with anti-Semitic
feelings. She knew that Jan was strongly Catholic, but he was
as committed as any of them to the underground Polish state
that they were all building. The growing numbers of children
they were smuggling out of the ghetto was unmanageable with-
out someone higher up in the orphanage division helping with
placements and paperwork. Irena at last took Jan Dobraczynski
into her secret.
Here is how Jan described what happened: “One day my staff,
namely social workers, came to me about this matter. The whole
group had for some time, of their own volition, been running
u 410 358 8509 u 41
