Book Review
A recent post talked about reading material that stirs hard emotions. Here's one of those.
These days there are many books to choose from that cover real life events and experiences during the Nazi occupation of Europe. This is the story of Irena Sendler and her network of assistants who managed to rescue over two thousand Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto. They did this right under the noses of the occupying army, who had orders to make sure not one Jew left alive unless it was in a cattle car.
The author spent hours in research and interviews, which resulted in a detailed account of this amazing feat - and the price Irena and her comrades paid for their humanitarianism.
These were not saints, they were ordinary people. But the realization that getting the children out was the only chance for their survival awakened the best in all of them. Irena's position as a social worker and health sanitation officer gave her personal access into the ghetto. She was a gifted organizer, had amazing energy, and found herself driven to save as many of the little ones as she could before it was too late.
Not wanting to spend all of the time I have to read in stories pertaining to World War II, it's needful to pick and choose. This was a good choice. Highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart. These were hard times and cruelty was not only allowed but encouraged by Hilter, who considered all Poles of little worth.
The author has a full list of characters at the back of the book, which is extremely helpful. This is a complicated narrative at times, and Polish names can be hard to pronounce and remember.
This is on my Wish List.
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