May 12th marked the death of a 98 year old lady named Irena.
During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist ...
She had an ulterior motive...
She KNEW what the Nazis plans were for the Jews, (being German).
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack, (for larger kids).
She also had a dog in the back, that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in, and out of the ghetto.
The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.
During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazis broke both her legs, and arms, and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out, and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her backyard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it, and reunited the family. Most of course had been gassed.
Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes, or adopted.
Last year, Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize ...
She LOST.
Al Gore won, for doing a slide show on Global Warming.
Check out more of her story here: http://www.irenasendler.org/
I wanted to share this story because I thought it was rather incredible how unselfish this woman was ... not only to sacrifice her own life, but to ultimately lay it down for someone else. Hmmm ... it reminds me of another familiar story, that you all might already know ... it's about a man named Jesus, and how he came and died so that we might live ...
