The creation of the Warsaw ghetto
In 1940, the Germans created the Warsaw Ghetto. More than 400,000 Jews were confined to a section of a few streets, surrounded by a wall, barbed wire, and armed guards. Anyone who tried to escape risked being shot on the spot.
Living conditions there were unimaginable. Hunger, disease, and overcrowding ravaged the population. Tens of thousands of people died of starvation or typhus. In the streets, children begged, their eyes vacant and their bodies emaciated.
As a social worker, Irena had a pass that allowed her to enter the ghetto to control the spread of disease. She wore an armband adorned with the Star of David so as not to be noticed.
When she first entered, she discovered a reality she could not bear: children were dying in the streets, mothers were begging for a piece of bread, and old people were lying in the gutters.
Irena understood that she had to act.
A plan as simple as it was dangerous
Irena joined Żegota, an underground organization that helped Jews. She then came up with a plan that seemed both simple and insane: to get children out of the ghetto and then place them in Polish families, orphanages or convents.
The risks were immense. Helping Jews was punishable by death. The Germans could execute an entire family for hiding a single child.
Irena was fully aware of the danger. Despite this, she couldn’t stand by and watch the children die.
She began with small actions. When she entered the ghetto, her medical bag concealed food, medicine, and money. She sought out families with young children, approached them, and asked in a low voice:
