amazing woman

I am very interested in WW2 Europe and recently recievd an e-mail with some information about a WWII hero. I've never heard of her and I think there are a lot of war hero's that go unknown. Maybe this one pulled at my heart strings and I felt it neccessary to share is because it had to do with small children.

There recently was a 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 Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the 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 of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, 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 back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.


Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

Of course this is a breif summary of her and I found a website devoted to her
And there is a movie. I'll have to try to find it and maybe a book? If you've read a book about her, I'd love a recommendation. Or any other book about someone selfless and inspiring.