Thursday, January 31, 2019

Irena's Children

Book: Irena's Children
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words  : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References

Basic Information:
Author: Tilar J. Mazzeo
Edition: epub on Overdrive from the Fresno County Public Library
Publisher: Gallery Books
ISBN: 1481449915 (ISBN13: 9781481449915)
Start Date: January 19, 2019
Read Date: January 31, 2019
337 pages
Genre: History, Biography, World War II
Language Warning: Low
Rated Overall: 3 ½ out of 5

History: 4 out of 5

Religion: Christianity, Agnostic
Religious Quality: 1 out of 5
Christianity-Teaching Quality: 1 out of 5
The protagonist is an agnostic. But the setting is in Poland, a Catholic country, in connection with its Jewish population during World War II. Later on in her life she returns to her Catholic faith


Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
The book traces Irena's biography from the time when she was a child where her father was a doctor who tended children and adults who were not in a position to pay. They paid in kindness and in what they had. Her father died young from treating his patients from tuberculosis. That left his wife and several children to care for. For a while they live with Irena's uncle but then later on move to Warsaw.

Irena became engaged to a man who she did not love but which was customary for Catholic Poles. She made decisions to go to the university and get a degree where she became involved in social work. While her husband did not agree with this-he wanted a family-he did not object to it. During this time she connected her father's work with what the social work she was studying and it became her lifelong passion to help those in need.

When the Germans invaded Poland they started isolating the Jewish people. Irena saw the need to care for them and start his smuggling in food and supplies. As a group, she realized that there was a need to go and find places for orphans within the Warsaw Ghetto. This started up a whole network of people who would become part of the resistance. The part which Irena was involved with mostly consisted of the welfare of the Jewish people but then later on all Poles.

Even before the German occupation she had fallen in love with a young Jewish man who was her passion. Later on during the occupation they continue the relationship particularly after her husband ended up being a prisoner of war by the Germans.


The books continues on with the various risks and dangers of what Irena was doing and how others were being picked up and being tortured. Finally a person in a fresh air market is picketed up and cracks under torture and gives our Irena. Irena is picked up, but not before she is able to pass on the list of children. Irena is tortured, but does not crack, except her bones. The day comes when her name is called to be executed-the Germans have not figured out who Irena is yet and what role she has played. Instead of being shot, a Gestapo guard has been bribed to free her. The bribe is from the underground.

She goes back to her old place and is torn about returning. Torn because this will be the first place the Gestapo looks when they figure out she is not dead. But also her mother is dying of cancer and cannot live on the run. This all comes to a head when she is out of their apartment and the Gestapo comes in looking for her.

Irena rises up in influence within the resistance and is highly relied on, both for her child smuggling and placement skills but also because of the respect everyone has for her.

Germany is falling and the army has retreated. The resistance feels this is the time they can revolt, figuring that it would throw the Germans out quicker. Also the Russian army would be fighting the Germans as well. Several things conspire to make this a failed strategy. 1) The Germany army has orders to hold Warsaw; 2) the Russians would just as soon have the Germans get rid of any upstart Poles; 3) There are also orders to raze Warsaw to the ground. Consequently, Warsaw is destroyed.

When the Russians come in, it is not as liberators, but as conquers. The Poles are free of the Germans, but now do not have their freedom as the Russians dictate how they are to live. They also do not trust anybody who has been in the Polish underground, including Irena.

Little information reaches the outside world about the Polish resistance. Also the Poles are against the Jews just as much as the Russians are against the Poles. It is only after the fall of the Soviet Empire is there the start of knowledge about Irena Sendler. She is placed as a righteous Gentile in Israel. She dies in 2008.



Cast of Characters:
See the chapter called Cast of Characters. For an American, like me at least, it was very easy to get lost with all the Polish names.


Expectations:
Recommendation: OSHER
When: December 10, 2018
Date Became Aware of Book: December 10, 2018
How come do I want to read this book: Part of OSHER Book Club Spring 2019 semester
What do I think I will get out of it? No real expectations


Thoughts:
What kind of group does Mazzeo mean when he talks about a far-right group? I do not think he talks about it very extensively. In the context it does not seem like he is talking about Nazi’s as the group he is interested in is against the German Nazi’s.

Go back and read Leon Uris’ Mila 18. I read it when I was in high school.


Preface
Poland is an unmarked graveyard…
Main person in this story is Irena Sendler (Sendlerowa). Known as the female Schindler.
Interesting point: even after doing all which she did to save lives, the Soviet Union did not trust her and made her life a nightmare after the war.

Sometimes when you live through a difficult period of time, you are forced to make less than optimal choices which in other times would be considered immoral. Mazzeo hints that this is the case.

There is some contradictions on Sendler’s life after World War II. She rose to several administrative positions in Poland, but later claimed she had been tortured by the Soviets.

The author notes that she was both a heroine and a flawed person.


Prologue
Polish Jewish wisdom: No sad faces. Do not show fear.


Becoming Irena Sendler
This chapter talks about Irena’s background. Her father’s commitment as a doctor to service all and particularly those who had needs. He died young. But it was an influence on Irena. After her father died, her mother supported the family. Irena’s way to lesson the burden was to be married-at the age of 21. But it was not a “love” marriage. She pretty much felt constrained by it. She went on to graduate level college with Dr. Radlinska who became her mentor. It is here that she gained a circle of people who would be the nucleus of people to save Jewish children.

Irena got the philosophy that people are just people from her father. All else were just labels.

It was not the lack of love for her husband, but that the marriage lacked passion. Does marriage need passion?

Dr. Radlińska's Girls
The chapter starts with a scene where the professor has just finished giving her lecture when a group of hooligans breaks in. They ask one guy, why are you standing? “Because I am Jewish!” Then to Irena the same questions, “Because I am Polish!” That shows both what kind of person Irena was and the kind of bravery Dr. Radlinska inspired. But it now comes to light that Adam would be the one whom Irena gave her heart to. Then World War II hit on September 1, 1939 and the drastic change that brought.

What is an intellectual? According to Mazzeo, the Germans not only wanted to get rid of the Jews, but also rid the Polish culture which meant removing the intellectuals. Mazzeo names groups as doctors, teachers, lawyers, judges, landowners, oriests, nuns, politicians, ….


Those Walls of Shame
Now that the Germans have conquered Poland and Warsaw, they were starting to concentrate on their “Jewish” problem. They first confined the Jews in a small part of the city, about 300,000 of them. Then isolated the area with a wall. So the basic

Jaga was a Catholic. The author makes a comment that Jaga was old-fashion and deeply religious, but Irena trusted her completely. Is there a reason why you should not trust deeply religious people? How about those who are deeply atheist?

Professor Helena Radlińska was Irena’s inspiration, along with many others. Several people were affected by her and became part of a group to rescue Jews, particularly children. It is important to realize how one person can affect many.

Even in the Warsaw ghetto, money played a role on how well you survived, up to a point. With money-those who had assimilated more into Polish culture--could still buy better housing and food. But in the end, it did not matter. If you were Jewish, you still met the same end.

One of Irena’s friends, Maria, figured out that it was better to be confident than sulking around in fear. Fear was a “gambler’s tell”, something to say that you were hiding something. She was going to hide in the open, even playing bridge with some Gestapo informers.

The Warsaw ghetto was part of the final solution, actually the first step was to contain and concentrate the Jews into a small location.


The Youth Circle
Talked about life in the ghetto. Both the settling in and subsequent getting used to it. Also how the upper class lived, almost as if they were not forced to live in the ghetto.

Two of the main people in the story, Adam and Ewa, were Jewish and trapped in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw. Adam was Irena’s married lover. Ewa a close friend who helped rescue children. There is a comment which said that It was work that saved them both--teaching and work with the children. Interesting comment. Most of the time we look at getting out of work. But there is a healing and redemptive quality to work which is within in God’s will.


Calling Dr. Korczak
As the noose tightened on the ghetto, it was imperative for those who cared to about humans, any humans, even those who were Jewish . This came to a head when the Germans had issue an edict to clean the streets of orphans. The reason was to control disease. But in reality with half of those wandering the streets were Jewish. A situation came up that a large group of Jewish orphans were being targeted. Irena has a hard decision to make and decides to trust the head of a placement agency with who these children are. She doesn't like his solution, but cannot stop it. It is to return the children to the ghetto.

Once again, the question of Catholic religion comes back into play. The head of the adoption agency is Catholic, also a rightist group. Irena distrusted him-it seems more because he belonged to some rightist groups, but him being a Catholic. Why if that was not important? It turns out that Irena’s instincts was correct. While the head does not betray the children, he does send them back into the ghetto. Was that because of his right leaning? Because of his religion? Sounds like he wants to do right, but not stick his head too far out. Why does the author give friends of Irena a break in judgement when he condemns this guy? The author starts off by saying that Irena made tough decisions, some in retrospect are questionable. But these were tough times in very confusing times where actions were not clear.

Irena was a very capable woman who got the reputation that she could manage anything.


Ghetto Juggernaut
The big question is, how can you trust someone so different than yourself?


Road to Treblinka
The chapter feels with the building of the death camps and then how the Jews were enticed, coerced or forced into going onto trains to these cames. Ala was able to save some by having a first aid station where she could pronounce a person was unfit to travel. Sort of a rouse to save some of them. Sort of a syndical thought. You are too sick to be gassed to death.

Children were dying on the streets with the consent of the entire world. Really? Wasn’t there a war going on trying to defeat the Germans?

Children who escaped the ghetto had to learn how to act as non-Jewish Poles. As part of this training they were taught the Catholic catechism, These days there would be all kinds of issues with this. But the real question is, would anything else have saved their lives?

The person who sent the children back to the ghetto was in a position to help Irena. Would he make another bad decision? The book said that because of his Catholicness, he was realizing the moral ramifications of his decision. So when Irena asked him, he was primed with wanting to help. What he did do was use his contacts to make it possible for Irena to place the children she rescued.


The Good Fairy of the Umschlagplatz
Umschlagplatz is the place where the Germans was holding Jews to be loaded onto the train to the concentration camps. As said above a nurse and a fake doctor was able to pull many people out of the enclosure due to health reasons.

The raw courage to go into a place where you too might be loaded onto a train takes courage. While anybody whom they could they saved, some of the people were friends and relatives.

Tells of one orphan group, with their doctor, being marched through the streets of the ghetto to Umschlagplatz. The orphans were scared, but held together by the courage and will of the doctor. They were going to have to go. It was said this a form of a silent protest against these acts by the Germans, against the barbarism.

To Ala, there could not be any right or wrong in the actions going on, only the dictates of circumstance and conscience. I wonder about this. When there is no right or wrong action, where is God? Has God deserted the earth? From the description, it certainly seems like it. But from what we know, that is not true. So where is He during these times.


The Last Mile
Rescuing children was not without agony. Not only the apprehension of getting caught, but also the mental toll it took. Irena thought about the agony m\parents had in giving up their children, knowing that they would die, but the children would go on. This was not an easy decision to give to a total stranger your child. Lots of husband-wife arguments occurred. Then there was the nightmares which Irena had about the children she could not save who died.

And then there was the cost to the Jewish religion. To make the child seem non-Jewish, they would need to learn the catechism and in many cases be baptized. This was hard on the families. Some parents would not consent to this. Others made the decision to proceed. This is why the children smuggled out usually were orphans, children of friends or those children who were non-practicing Jews. This also led to accusations about the intent of smuggling the children-to convert or save?


Agents of the Resistance
There was a recognition that doing the work they were doing, someday they would get caught.That is bravery.

The resistance was given cyanide. Sometimes it was given for a patient who would be in danger of being caught by the Germans. While there is a moral abhorrence to suicide, there is a recognition that sometime suicide is the way out of a situation like what the Jews found themselves in. One of the fighters said To offer one's cyanide to somebody else is a really heroic sacrifice. The author then says that it is a means to insure a quiet death rather than a death by whatever means the Germans might give you.

Whatever you think of a race of people, genocide is abhorrent. A product of a mind, or more likely a collective of minds, which does not understand God and our relationship to Him.


Żegota
Zegota was an underground organization which was started by two Catholics-a left and right leaning people, who came together to to resist what was happening to the Jews. Żegota: full codename: the "Konrad Żegota Committee") was the Polish Council to Aid Jews with the Government Delegation for Poland - from Wikipedia

Adam, Irena’s lover, had been rescued from the ghetto. But now he found that there was nothing to do. The author notes that he needed a job that had some meaning. Don’t we all? When we just go through life without purpose, even if we are active, then we think we do not have a reason to live.

By January 1943, Irena had contributed and been the main force to over a thousand children saved. Not one child had been lost.

It took strength to live only in the present. But by doing that, you do not worry about the future or regret or want the past. Neither would have been useful to Irena.


Toward the Precipice
In this chapter, more and more things point to that Irena and her group are living on the edge. More close calls, more people questioning.

Everyone ..knew that the things that happened at the Gestapo centers were unspeakable. How much more today, I wonder? Our techniques for getting information has improved. But so has our abilities to case pain.

The children all had one thing in comment: the sad, frightened eyes of ghetto children. You wonder how these children were when the war was over? Was there ever any joy in their lives?

Irena’s main strength was that she was a problem solver.

What does the word holocaust really mean? a sacrifice consumed by fire; a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life especially through fire. Background: Middle English, from Late Latin holocaustum, from Greek holokauston, from neuter of holokaustos burnt whole, from hol- + kaustos burnt, from kaiein to burn — more at caustic From Merriam-Webster
Mazzeo uses it as the holocaust of the ghetto. When you put it with its original meaning about going through fire, this is really an insightful way to use the word.’

Jaga the Catholic thought for sure she had been caught with several Jewish orphans. The Germans had blocked off her area and there was no escape as the Germans did a house by house, from each end of the street. When they finally got to Jaga’s house, each thought they had done it already. A miracle occurred and they did not search her house. Jaga was a praying Catholic.

Irena received praise from those who she helped, like she bestowed the gift of life. She on the other hand felt the loss of all of those who she could not help. That is a hard burden to bear. But it is a means to keep one humble.


Ala Rising
The Warsaw ghetto uprising.

New Years eve brought the rumors of an action by the German’s to rid the ghetto of Jews. So families instead of celebrating were packing to fortified areas.

To the non-Jewish side of Warsaw, the potential uprising brought cheers, but more curiosity than support. There was a carnival going on just outside the walls of the ghetto. By riding the Ferris wheel, the residences were able to glimpse the fighting or you could also observe by getting up on some of the bridges close to the ghetto. Entertainment than support. You get the same kind of feeling as in Hunger Games when the spectators watched for the blood. Pleas for help went unanswered.

Suicide was better than capture.

What kind of person would betray their own people?

Hope is a powerful wonder. It can also lead into a trap. In this case, the Szmalcowniks set up a rumor that there was a certain amount of passes the various embassies had negotiated for. To go to a certain cafe, pay a fee and wait. They would be taken via a train outside of the German occupied area and set free. Many fell for it. Yes they were taken away, to a death camp.

Those who were captured and were still healthy were set to work in a concentration camp. One of those was Ala who set up a health clinic. She also was instrumental in setting up an uprising within the camp.


Aleja Szucha
A street vendor is arrested which leads to Irena’s imprisonment.

There was no way to blame someone in these circumstance[arrested and tortured by the Gestapo]. No one knew whether they would be able to withstand torture until faced with one’s executioner’s. This is so true. Would I be faithful? Hopefully I will never be put to the test.

Another miracle. Irena had filled a bag with important identity documents. If found, it definitely would indicate she was a big fish. But as the Gestapo searched and ransacked her apartment, the bed collapsed on top of the bag. The Gestapo never looked underneath the bed. Also her friend who was by the table had stuffed her bra with the list of children saved and where they were at. The Gestapo did not touch her, only arresting Irena.

One of Irena’s friends was executed. There was a small portrait of Christ which said I trust in Jesus. Irena kept it and treasured it for the rest of her life. Irena was an agnostic, so why did she keep it? Memory of friend? Memory of friend’s faith? A bit of her own faith?

Irena's Execution
Irena had withstood the torture and interrogation. But with a battered body full of broken bones. But she ended up being released “by mistake.” Actually through a bribe. She now was a sought after person by the Gestapo. She could not be with her dying mother and felt the guilt of inflicting this on her.

Irena was conflicted upon release. Her mother was dying and she needed to be with he. But she was also bringing danger to her mother and self by staying with her. The problem resolved itself when the Gestapo came after her while she was in a room a couple of stories above her residence. She now knew she could not go back.

The ransom paid was around $100,000. While the Gestapo officer involved in her release was bribed, I would think that it would raise some red flags in his mind about the worth of this prisoner. The ransom was paid through a friend of Irena who played bridge with informers.

One story told was that whenever Irena had gone to a house of the friend, the children would be excited to see her. Later the children were playing and some German soldiers came along and chased the children. They eventually killed the mother and one of the children.

Irena had led this double life for five years. She was becoming brittle with stress responsibilities and grief of lost friends. She was being given more leadership responsibilities within the resistance.


Warsaw Fighting
The German army is retreating from the Russians. The Polish resistance tries to help. But two things work against them. First, the Germans decide to make their stand at Warsaw; second, the Russians do not love the Poles and are just as glad for the Poles to weaken the Germans and get destroyed themselves. The Germans level Warsaw. Also Himmler had issued an order to kill all of the inhabitants of Warsaw and to bulldoze the entire city.

Irena now is with Adam and they have to flee the German destruction. But they cannot just leave as refugees as they are persons of interest to the Germans still.

The citizen’s of Warsaw now understood what the Jews felt to be Untermenschen.

Irena when they got re-established again, set up a field hospital. The author comments that the hospital quickly became--like anything Irena put her hand to-a sprawling operation. Tells of the character of Irena. GK Chesterton in the Tales of the Long Bow talks about a woman, a lady, who he describes as formable. He goes on and says that She is one of those people who can manage big enterprises, and the bigger they are the happier she is. This reminds me of Irena.

After Warsaw fell and the Russians finally came in after the slaughter, Irena finds a close friend whom she thought had died. Only thing is she had changed her name. She said that her old self had died in the ghetto. This is the horrific thing of what happened first to the Jews and then to the citizens of Warsaw.


How the Stories Ended.
The war has ended. Now how to start life in peace rather than in a constant state of fear. But you now had the Russians who were not opposed to being conquers rather than liberators. Irena and Adam could now live openly and get married, after getting their divorces from their spouses. There was the effort to reunite the Jewish children with their parents. But the majority of the parents had been killed.

Adam and Irena’s lives were always messy together. The author says that this was their real beginnings of their life together. That love story had been untidy and chaotic. The human heart is not symmetrical or neat, either, … But from Mazzeo’s telling, I do not think that anything in Irena’s life was every tidy.

Seems appreapo that Marek Edelman, the person who was not a doctor, but played the doctor at Ala’s station next to the train leaving for the concentration camps would study and become a doctor.

One can get into the position where you do not recognize your own contribution by denying them for so long. This leads to guilt about the never completed tasks you leave behind. In Irena’s case, she never forgot the children she could not save.

Some of the non-Jewish Poles were ripped at by the Jews for teaching them Catholic ways. But isn’t that how they were saved? But how would I as a Christian feel if the only way to save my children would be for them to learn the Muslim ways?

A good way to end the main part of the book. She [Irena] had been … “the brightest star in the black sky of the occupation”, and that star was undiminished.


Coda: The Disappearing Story of Irena Sendler, 1946-2008
The author fills in the blanks between the end of World War II and her death. This includes the distrust the Soviet occupation had for those who were part of the Polish resistance and Irena’s continuation to be sympathetic to those who have great needs.

The Polish nation was forced to keep their silence by the persecution they would face if they talked about their roles in the resistance. This caused many stories to be buried, including Irena’s.

Irena married Adam. But it was not a “clean” marriage. There was rockiness in it. In the 1960’s Adama died. Irena returned to her Catholic roots and eventually remarried her first husband Mietek Sendler. Her return to her religion was for the comfort it gave her after Adam died.

Irena always corrected people about the number-saying she did not keep count of the numbers. And that her work was done in conjunction with a great many of other people. After the war, she made a list of all the people who helped her in the work-14 pages long.

Her work was Israel in the Yad Vashem-the forest of the righteous.

Evaluation:
 Before reading this book, the only thing I knew about the Polish occupation by Germany during World War II was somethings about the Warsaw ghetto. Irena’s Children gave me a good understanding of life under German rule-and why I am glad I did not live there during that time.

The book is about Irena Sendler, mostly during the occupation. She lead a team of people who ultimately was able to rescue 2,500 children out of the Warsaw ghetto. She paid a rather severe price for this work-a broken and battered body. Her personal life was also messy.

Tilar Mazzeo does a good job of narrating the Irena’s story. But there are a few places which when compared to other sources, she bends some of her facts. Such as Irena’s time after the war and what happened under the Soviet Union’s rule seems at odds with information found on Wikipedia.

I do recommend this book, if for no other reason to get familiar with Irena Sendler. For more of my thoughts, please see my book blog.


 
Notes from my book group:

Read for OSHER Book Club in April 2019.

Notes:Words seem to have a lot of significance in this book. It was pointed out that there was words of terror/. But there are also words which tend to dehumanize people.  Interesting that today, we see some of those types of words being used, like "those people", or "them".

 We are seeing a resurgence of trying to make people inferior and that somebody is superior. This was the essence of what Hitler was trying to do. 

 Easy to ignore people in need. Showing concern could cost you your life. On the other hand, people were being shot or tortured somewhat randomly by the Germans of their minions. So why not risk things if chances this was going to happen to you anyway?

 What is a hero?  Also compared being a hero to an idol.


The author notes that she was both a heroine and a flawed person. How so? Does this make her seem like an authentic person?

Fear is talked about throughout the book. Most of the characters in the book learnt to put a mask on their fear and look confident. How does fear betray a person? How can you mask fear?

One of the first things which the Germans do when they invade is find the intellectuals and remove them from the Polish culture. As a note: this is what the Russians and Chinese did during their revolutions. Why is this done? Is it effective means for conquering a people? Why?

There seems to be a tension in Irena’s life between religion and her. While she is attracted to helping the Jews because of their underprivileged status, she does not seem to be particularly attracted to their religion. There is a statement made by the author that Jaga was old-fashion and deeply religious, but Irena trusted her completely. Does the author give us any light on why? What is the conflict which Irena is feeling? Is this a true conflict or one which she has within her?

Irena’s personal life is marked by a mixture of love and disregard. How does that shape her as a person? Does that affect her desires to aid people? How would you feel about Irena if you were her husband (either one)?

One of the questions which Irena faced, and in many ways we face today, is how do you trust someone whom is different than you are? (Right leaning Catholic vs a left leaning agnostic)

When children were brought out of the Jewish ghetto, they were taught to be like non-Jewish Polish children. This included learning the Catholic catechism and in many cases being baptized. Was there other ways of protecting the Jewish children from discovery over a six year period? Was teaching them the catechism and in some cases baptizing them immoral or ethical? What would you have done which would work? To bring this into a slightly different circumstances, to protect American Christian children, would teaching them the Quran be acceptable? How would American Christians, or even agnostics, react? This is assuming that America turned radical Muslim.

Reading into the Russian intentions about not aiding the Polish resistance, may have been to save Russian lives. Is this a useful strategy? What consequences does it have? Are there lessons to be learnt for us today?

The Russians did not trust Irena Sendler her her other resistance associates. There is an ancient 4th century BC proverb that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. When is this true and when is not? What are the limits to this?

The Gestapo used some very crude and effective torture in which they are condemned. At what level of pain and/or deprivation is acceptable to encourage people to talk? When is is this kind of coercion acceptable? If this was used to have prevented 9/11, would that have made torture acceptable? How about drugs, sleep deprivation, simulated suffocation, simulated freezing, …?

The author talks about several times where if things had gone a little different, it would have blown someone’s cover and ended in death. These include the German patrols missing a building, stopping a floor lower than Irena, and a bed falling on important papers. How does the author differentiate a miracle vs a chance event? How do you?


Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
  • Why the title of Irena’s Children? Who were her children?
  • Does this story work as a history of the resistance to the Germans in Poland during World War II? What background was given? What more would you have liked to have known?
  • Which character was the most authentic? True to the person?
    • Which character did you identify with?
    • Which one did you dislike?
  • Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
  • In what context was religion talked about in this book?
  • Was there anybody you would consider religious?
    • How did they show it?
    • How did it affect how they acted?
    • Who acted more in line with their beliefs-those who were Catholic? Jews? Or Agnostics/Atheists?
  • Why do you think the author wrote this book?
  • What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
  • What “-take aways” did you have from this book?
  • Describe the culture talked about in the book.
    • How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
    • What economic or political situations are described?
    • How does the culture of being a Jew in Poland affect this book?
  • How did this book affect your view of the world?
    • What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
  • Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
    • What was memorable?

From Simon&Schuster web site:

This readers group guide for Irena’s Children includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Tilar J. Mazzeo. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

When German forces occupying Poland during World War II begin isolating and eradicating the Jewish population of Warsaw under Hitler’s orders, Irena Sendler, a young social worker, courageously devotes herself to saving as many people as she can. Inspired by the life and work of her professor and mentor, Dr. Helena Radlińska, Sendler collaborates with fellow students, friends, her forbidden Jewish lover Adam, and countless others to deliver children of all ages from the hell of the Warsaw ghetto to hidden safe spots elsewhere in the city. The heroes in her network risk their lives daily—and many lose their lives—in order to save more than 2,500 children and countless adults who would otherwise be sent to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis. With a healthcare pass, Sendler travels in and out of the ghetto herself, making secret deliveries of food and medicine and smuggling out babies and children whose desperate parents beg her to take them. Although the discovery of any record-keeping would mean death for Sendler, she writes the names of the children she rescues on small slips of paper and guards the lists with her life in the hope that their true identities will not be lost and that reunification with their families will be possible some time in the future. As the death toll in Warsaw climbs and German soldiers begin looking for the resistance leader known as “Jolanta,” the risk of what Sendler stands to lose grows ever greater. Yet, confronted with what seem to be insurmountable obstacles, she continues on with unwavering and awe-inspiring determination and fortitude in a brave mission of hope that will affect entire generations to come.

Topics & Questions for Discussion
1. In the preface to the book, the author reveals that many of the people she wished to interview for her research told her: “I don’t like to talk about those years with anyone who didn’t live them” (page xii). Why did those people prefer not to discuss that time with anyone who didn’t live then? Do you agree that this is advisable? Why, or why not? The book then opens with a reference to a Yiddish folktale. What does the book ultimately seem to suggest about storytelling and the written word?

2. Also in the preface, the author speaks of her choice to show the complexity of Irena’s character, stating that she thought it would be dishonoring Sendler to portray her as a saint (page xii). Why do you believe Mazzeo made this choice? How does Mazzeo’s portrayal of heroism compare to, or differ from, traditional portrayals of heroism you have encountered, particularly within the genres of historical fiction and nonfiction?

3. Irena’s father taught her that “people are either good or bad” (page 18). Do you agree with this statement? Why, or why not? What did her father mean by this, and what did he think a person should not be judged by? What does the book ultimately seem to suggest about human nature and about how a person should be judged?

4. Why does Dr. Radlińska inspire so many of the people she meets? What causes is she committed to? What does she teach her students about “the commitment of a small group of well-intentioned people” (page 29)? Do you agree with her? Where do we find her concept in action elsewhere in the book?


5. In Chapter 8, the author says that Ala Gołąb-Grynberg “struggled between the instinct of a mother and that of a nurse and a social worker” (pages 126–27). What does she mean by this? Which of the roles ultimately took priority? Do you believe that this was the right choice? Explain. How are other people in the book forced to choose or prioritize among their different roles, and how do they reach their decisions?

6. Consider the treatment of religious faith in the book. How important is faith to the people characterized in the book? How important is it to Irena? Why are so many people angry that the children being rescued from the Warsaw ghetto are often baptized? Do you agree that the baptism was necessary? Why, or why not?

7. Evaluate the theme of identity. How is identify defined in the book? Is identity portrayed as something that goes unchanged, or is it flexible? How do issues of identity create—or otherwise help to resolve—conflicts? What issues of identity arise in the book and how do the characters react to them?

8. Does the book ultimately suggest whether there is a fixed or universal code of ethics and morality and a fixed notion of what is “good” and what is “bad”? Explain. Consider also how complicity is treated in the book. Who is complicit, and why do these people choose to be complicit? Do their motives in some way justify their actions? Why, or why not? Likewise, many of the people portrayed in the book betray one another. What is at the root of these betrayals? Discuss.

9. Evaluate the theme of hope. In what do the characters find hope? Is hope ultimately depicted as a positive and helpful force or a negative and frivolous force? Explain. For instance, why do so many people go to the Hotel Polski? What ultimately happens to them as a result of their decision? What does this indicate about the power of hope? What other examples of hope are found in the book?

10. Why are the lists that Irena keeps so important? What is their purpose? In addition to why they are important for the children she saves and their families, how do these lists come to influence Irena’s own fate?

11. The author tells us that, at the end of her mother’s life, Irena came to the realization that “she had been a terrible daughter” (page 233). Why does Irena think this? Do you agree that she was a bad daughter? Why, or why not?

12. After the “liberation of Poland” (page 254), how did the people who lived during that time cope with their tragic history? How does Rachela Rosenthal cope, for instance, with the tragedies she faced?

13. The author tells us that Irena did not wish to be thought of as a heroine. Why does Irena say this? Why does she believe that her acts were not heroic? Do you believe that Irena’s actions were heroic, or do you agree with her that what she did was simply “normal” (page 263)? Does Mazzeo’s book ultimately suggest how we should define heroism? Explain.

14. Why do you think the author chose to append a coda? What information does she reveal in it? How does she say that the story of Irena presented in the book varies from a fairy tale or a movie version of the story? What happens to Irena after the Germans withdraw from Poland? How is Irena’s life influenced by the events that took place during that time period?

15. In the Afterword, the author states that she considers Irena’s Children a work of nonfiction. What were some of the obstacles the author faced in writing about this topic and presenting it as a work of nonfiction? What does this tell us about the way we talk about and write about history? Can we ever achieve an accurate portrayal of historical events? Explain.

Enhance Your Book Club
1. Irena Sendler has been called “the female Oskar Schindler.” View Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film Schindler’s List. What do Irena Sendler and Oskar Schindler have in common? Alternatively, what sets them apart? How does the visual portrayal of the events in the film compare to Mazzeo’s written account of this time?

2. Use Irena’s Children as a starting place to discuss the subjects of racism and persecution. What role does complicity play in the perpetuation of them? Within this context, discuss why Irena Sendler’s story is relevant today and what we can learn from her story.

3. Compare Irena’s Children to a fictional account of the events of World War II. How does Mazzeo’s book compare, for instance, to Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five? Does one genre—fiction or nonfiction—seem to be more effective than the other in treating this subject? Explain. Discuss how Mazzeo’s book challenges conventions of historical nonfiction.

4. Have you ever stood up for a cause at the risk of your own well-being? Discuss. What causes have you or would you be willing to stand up for as Irena did? What would you be willing to risk for your cause? Do you think you would have made the same decisions that Irena did? Explain why or why not. Discuss an event that affected your family for more than one generation.



New Words:

  • Aktion (Ala Rising): Polish for Action
  • Szmalcowniks (ala Rising): a pejorative Polish slang expression that was used during World War II for a person who blackmailed Jews who were in hiding, or who blackmailed Poles who protected Jews during the German occupation.
  • Ersatz (Aleja Szucha): made or used as a substitute, typically an inferior one, for something else
  • Untermenschen: a person considered racially or socially inferior


Good Quotes:
    • First Line: When I first visited Poland, sometime around 2009, I thought it would be a vacation.
    • Last Line: Such were Irena and all her friends and this is their story
    • A friend beating around the bush was never a great start to a conversation. Chp Zegota
      Table of Contents:
      • Becoming Irena Sendler
      • Dr. Radlińska's Girls
      • Those Walls of Shame
      • The Youth Circle
      • Calling Dr. Korczak
      • Ghetto Juggernaut
      • Road to Treblinka
      • The Good Fairy of the Umschlagplatz
      • The Last Mile
      • Agents of the Resistance
      • Żegota
      • Toward the Precipice
      • Ala Rising
      • Aleja Szucha
      • Irena's Execution
      • Warsaw Fighting
      • How the Stories Ended.
      • Coda: The Disappearing Story of Irena Sendler, 1946-2008

      References:



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          Location: Warsaw, Poland

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