Prior to Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939, Irena Sendler worked in various departments of Warsaw’s social welfare office. The persecution of Jews in Warsaw began when the Germans occupied the city. Sendler helped the Jews wherever she could. In the fall of 1940, all Jews had to move into the ghetto. Even after it was locked off, Sendler continued to enter the ghetto. She procured forged papers that deemed her a “nurse for epidemic disease control.” This enabled her to bring food, clothing, and medicine into the ghetto. Together with her coworkers at the Social Welfare Office, she smuggled Jews out of the ghetto, especially children. In late 1942, Sendler started working for the illegal aid organization Żegota and she later ran the children’s division. In 1943, Sendler was arrested by the Gestapo and sentenced to death. Żegota paid bribes in order to get her released from prison. After that, Sendler assumed a false identity and went underground until the end of the war.
In 1965 Irena Sendler was honored by the Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.