Traveling Play Tells Story of Holocaust 'Angel' at SJCC

She helped save an estimated 2,500 children in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII, but until recently, the story of the Catholic social worker and nurse remained largely unknown — and then a group of Kansas students and educators changed all that.

The Irena Sendler Project — a traveling group of students and some of those same educators — will perform "Life in a Jar" on April 1, 7 p.m. at the .

Written by Jack Mayer, "Life in a Jar" is the inspirational story of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic nurse who worked in Warsaw during the occupation of WW2. She became known as the "Angel of the Warsaw Ghetto". She knocked on Jewish doors in the Warsaw ghetto and, in Sendler's own words, "tried to talk the mothers out of their children."

It is also the story of students from Kansas who rediscovered her, each carrying her own painful burden and each called in her own complex way to spread the history of Irena Sendler. The energy behind telling Sendler's story of good works came to light in 1999, thanks to four Uniontown, KS students in search of a good project to enter into a National History Day contest — a year-long academic program focused on historical research for 6th to 12th grade students. The students created a dramatic play based on Sendler's life and began raising funds at performances to help Sendler and other Polish rescuers of Holocaust survivors, who were in need of support due to their advanced age.

The play, written in book form, was recently chosen as 2011 Kansas Notable Book selection. 

The life of Irena Sendler was one of great testimony, one of courage and love, one of respect for all people, regardless of race, religion and creed. Irena Sendler, born in Warsaw, Poland, led the rescue of 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto and those hiding in the Warsaw area during World War Two. Though she died peacefully at the age of 98 in Warsaw in 2008, her legacy of repairing the world continues as good continues to triumph evil.

For more infomation about Sendler, click here for a 2 minute piece about her life produced by the Catholic News Agency, or click here for information about the Irena Sendler Project. 

The production of the play is made possible thanks to Northwest Yeshiva High School and a grant by the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. The play will be performed again at NYHS for students at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning.

— Information provided by Northwest Yeshiva High School