Irena Sendler was born in 1910 in Otwock, near Warsaw. Her father, Stanisław Krzyżanowski, "s"was a doctor. He ran a dispensary where he treated the poorest people, mainly Jews whom other doctors refused to see.
When Irena was seven years old, her father died of typhus, contracted from his patients. Before dying, he passed on a phrase to her that she would remember all her life:
« If you see someone drowning, you must jump in to save them, even if you can’t swim. »
A youth marked by the example of his father
Irena grew up watching her mother struggle to provide for the family. She studied Polish literature at the University of Warsaw, but interrupted her studies to help her mother.
She then began working in the social welfare service. Her job seemed perfectly ordinary: she assisted poor families, organized relief efforts, and distributed food.
There was nothing heroic yet in this professional life.
Then war broke out.
