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Irena Sendler 43
ease control was part of that fiction, which enabled Irena and
her team to go to the Umschlagplatz. Ala Golab-Grynberg, the
Jewish head nurse inside the ghetto, set up a “clinic” at the edge
of the mass gathering area. There, these brave Jews and Poles
played out a role with riveting bravado in a spectacular rescue
mission right under the noses of the Germans.
One hero of the story is Nachum Remba. He was not a doctor
but a 32-year-old clerk in the Judenrat offices. He was also a
member of the Jewish resistance. Nachum had a crazy idea. He
and Ala pretended that they had permission to set up a medical
clinic. They requisitioned a place near the loading dock. From
there, they identified those too sick or too young to travel and
insisted on treatment and, sometimes, a hospital transfer. What
their “rescue brigade” accomplished was astonishing. Nachum
Remba convinced the Germans that he was the chief doctor in
the ghetto and Ala was the chief nurse. They played along with
the Germans that these were simply resettlements. To keep up
the façade, smug Nazis humored the “duped and deluded” Jew-
ish doctors and nurses. Maintaining order was their chief objec-
tive, and a few Jews, more or less, would not matter.
The book gives a scenario of how the “actors” fooled the
Germans. The main ingredient was pluck and the ability to act
calm and professional in the face of Nazi brutes. In some cas-
es, Ala actually put little babies inside her coat, cradled beneath
her armpit, and walked them past the sentries. Twenty-year-
old Marek Edelman, later a leader of the Warsaw ghetto revolt,
moved among the milling crowd, his pockets stuffed with docu-
ments signed by Ala certifying that the recipient was too sick to
travel. Of course, the number saved was small compared to the
horrible numbers who were slaughtered. Hundreds of lives were
saved, but thousands were loaded on the trains to Treblinka.
The story is worth reading in detail. Full disclosure: When
one has only a limited number of lifesaving certificates to hand
out, it is understood that Marek Edelman and the others tried
to save people they knew or cared about. The story of the Holo-
caust is not all black and white by any means. Difficult choices
were made at many levels, and everyone was aware they could
be killed at any moment.
Dr. Janusz Korczak
Dr. Janusz Korczak was well known to Irena and all of Dr. Rad-
linska’s circle as he had been a professor at the Polish Free Uni-
versity. He was Jewish but very assimilated into Polish culture.
He ran an orphanage in the ghetto for Jewish orphans. Irena
was a familiar face at the orphanage and one of the children’s
favorite guests at their amateur theatricals. When she heard
that the children were to be taken to the Umschlagplatz, the SS
had long since arrived at the orphanage with the orders. Irena
rushed to try and at the least save the doctor. “The children
were to have been taken away alone,” one witness, remembered.
The doctor was given 15 minutes to prepare them. Dr. Korczak
steadfastly refused to leave the children. “You do not leave a
u 410 358 8509 u
ease control was part of that fiction, which enabled Irena and
her team to go to the Umschlagplatz. Ala Golab-Grynberg, the
Jewish head nurse inside the ghetto, set up a “clinic” at the edge
of the mass gathering area. There, these brave Jews and Poles
played out a role with riveting bravado in a spectacular rescue
mission right under the noses of the Germans.
One hero of the story is Nachum Remba. He was not a doctor
but a 32-year-old clerk in the Judenrat offices. He was also a
member of the Jewish resistance. Nachum had a crazy idea. He
and Ala pretended that they had permission to set up a medical
clinic. They requisitioned a place near the loading dock. From
there, they identified those too sick or too young to travel and
insisted on treatment and, sometimes, a hospital transfer. What
their “rescue brigade” accomplished was astonishing. Nachum
Remba convinced the Germans that he was the chief doctor in
the ghetto and Ala was the chief nurse. They played along with
the Germans that these were simply resettlements. To keep up
the façade, smug Nazis humored the “duped and deluded” Jew-
ish doctors and nurses. Maintaining order was their chief objec-
tive, and a few Jews, more or less, would not matter.
The book gives a scenario of how the “actors” fooled the
Germans. The main ingredient was pluck and the ability to act
calm and professional in the face of Nazi brutes. In some cas-
es, Ala actually put little babies inside her coat, cradled beneath
her armpit, and walked them past the sentries. Twenty-year-
old Marek Edelman, later a leader of the Warsaw ghetto revolt,
moved among the milling crowd, his pockets stuffed with docu-
ments signed by Ala certifying that the recipient was too sick to
travel. Of course, the number saved was small compared to the
horrible numbers who were slaughtered. Hundreds of lives were
saved, but thousands were loaded on the trains to Treblinka.
The story is worth reading in detail. Full disclosure: When
one has only a limited number of lifesaving certificates to hand
out, it is understood that Marek Edelman and the others tried
to save people they knew or cared about. The story of the Holo-
caust is not all black and white by any means. Difficult choices
were made at many levels, and everyone was aware they could
be killed at any moment.
Dr. Janusz Korczak
Dr. Janusz Korczak was well known to Irena and all of Dr. Rad-
linska’s circle as he had been a professor at the Polish Free Uni-
versity. He was Jewish but very assimilated into Polish culture.
He ran an orphanage in the ghetto for Jewish orphans. Irena
was a familiar face at the orphanage and one of the children’s
favorite guests at their amateur theatricals. When she heard
that the children were to be taken to the Umschlagplatz, the SS
had long since arrived at the orphanage with the orders. Irena
rushed to try and at the least save the doctor. “The children
were to have been taken away alone,” one witness, remembered.
The doctor was given 15 minutes to prepare them. Dr. Korczak
steadfastly refused to leave the children. “You do not leave a
u 410 358 8509 u
