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2010-08-31

Tribute to Righteous

 

Ilustracja

Irena Sendler   

 The Jewish Culture Festival „Singer’s Warsaw” has started in Warsaw on the 28th of August. The first day of the festival was dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations. Janina Zgrzembska, Irena Sendler’s daughter said:
“My mother did not call herself a heroin. She always asked others not to call her that either. Monuments are erected to commemorate heroes, and what about such a non-heroin? Her memorials look differently; that are schools and tulips named after her”
„I would also like to give an account of the last years of my mother’s life, of six years that she spent in a nursing home run by Fatebenefratelli. In our culture it is rather not common for our parents to stay in nursing homes, but in her case it was necessary. The Fatebenefratelli home provided a medical care, which helped my mother to get a new lease of life. Those six years were the time of a very active life. A book about my mother was written and its promotion took place during her stay in the nursing home. My mother had meetings with various important for her people.”

According to Zgrzemska the name of Irena Sendler covers also all the people with whom she cooperated. “Those are the people, whose names remain unknown, who were not honored with the medal of the Righteous Among the Nations. They also helped to bring the children to safe places(...). Today’s meeting is dedicated also to them.” – stressed Zgrzembska.

During the first day of the Festival other righteous (Jadwiga Gawrych, Alicja Schnepf and Józef Walaszczyk) were also given an opportunity to tell their stories. Gawrych told about Abrham Słomka, who she and her family harbored while living in a forester’s lodge. He was a hairdresser who managed to escape from the Warsaw ghetto. Later he taught her and her brother to play the violin. Gawrych’s house was also visited by other Jewish people who lived in a nearby barn. Someone, however, informed the Germans about the help which her family was giving to the Jews. Their house was burnt and Jadwiga’s father was executed.

The audience watched a documentary titled „The Righteous”, directed by Małgorzata Imielska. Later flowers were laid under the plaque commemorating the Righteous Among the Nations.

Sources: PAP

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