Join a community of readers who are committed to Jewish stories
Sign up for JBC’s Nu Reads, a curated selection of Jewish books delivered straight to your door!
Posted by Naomi Firestone-Teeter
Irena Sendler is one of the “Other Schindlers.” During World War II she helped create over 3,000 false documents to help Jewish families and joined the Żegota resistance (Council to Aid Jews) as head of their children’s section. In this capacity, she smuggled children and babies out of ghettos and buried lists of the hidden children in jars in order to keep track of them. Sendler is recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, has received numerous awards for her courageous efforts (including Poland’s highest civilian decoration), and there have been efforts to nominate her for the Nobel Prize.
Want to learn more about Sendler? Check out these great resources:
Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project
Irena Sendler: Mother of the Children of the Holocaust
Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto
The Other Schindler… Irena Sendler: Savior of the Holocaust Children
Originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Naomi Firestone-Teeter is the CEO of the Jewish Book Council. Prior to becoming executive director and then CEO, she served as founding editor of the JBC website and managing editor of Jewish Book World. Naomi sits on the board of Jewish Creativity International.Naomi was named to the New York Jewish Week’s 2019 “36 Under 36” and Algemeiner’s 2018 list of the 100 people positively influencing Jewish life and was included on the Global Jewish 100 list by Izzy in 2020. She graduated from Emory University with degrees in English and Art History and, in addition, studied at University College London. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Related Reading
