The late Irena Sendler

Youth and officials from Poland and Israel have gathered in Warsaw for a presentation of a project to honour the memory of the unsung heroine of World War II Irena Sendler. 

The presentation of a Polish-Israeli project commemorating Polish World War II heroine Irena Sendler, was held in Warsaw’s Presidential Palace on Friday. Poland’s First Lady Maria Kaczyńska recognised the author of the initiative Orit Fogel-Shafran, director Israel’s Ra’anana Symphonette Orchestra for her dedication to promoting dialogue between the two cultures by awarding her the Order of Merit, one of the highest state distinctions.  

Her initiative to honour the memory of Irena Sendler as part of the Polish Year in Israel, includes a special composition entitled “Irena’s Song – A Ray of Light in the Darkness”, written by composer Kobi Oshrat. Alongside the musical tribute, Ms. Fogel-Shafran, with the help of the mayor of Ra’anana, invited Israeli teenagers to join the project, and so 2,500 of them wrote letters to Irena Sendler. They bore stamps issued specially for the occasion by the Israel Philatelic Authority featuring an image of Ms. Sendler and the words “thank you” in Hebrew, designed by Polish artist Rafał Olbiński. The letters were then sealed in vases, which are to be used to create a sculpture designed by a renowned Israeli artist Ilana Gur, to symbolise Ms. Sendler’s efforts to preserve the saved children’s identity during World War II. She would hide the real and fictitious names of the 2,500 children she smuggled from the Warsaw ghetto, so as to reconnect them with their surviving family members once the war was over.

Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by Alicja Baczyńska.