PRESENTATION OUTLINE
LIFE IN A JAR: THE IRENA SENDLER PROJECT
Life in a Jar is about Irena Sendler and her untold story of how she smuggled 2,500 Jewish children from the ghetto in Warsaw, Poland.
Sneaking into the ghetto as an infectious control officer, Irena Sendler would sneak small children out by hiding them in her nurse bag or by exiting the ghetto through the sewer. Irena, code named 'Jolanta' set up an underground system that would rename and relocate the smuggled Jewish children.
After sneaking out the children, Irena wrote down their Jewish name, their new name, and where they were relocated. Her only promise to the parents after taking their children was that she would make sure the children knew they were once Jewish after the war was over.
Irena was later arrested and sent to Pawiak Prison for helping the Jewish children. Her underground network 'Zegota' payed a large bribe after a year of Irena's torture and torment to get information, that got her out of prison.
Soon after Irena's escape WWII ended and Poland was ruled by communists. Irena's heroic acts were forgotten under communist rule and was unheard of for 60 years.
In Uniontown, Kansas in 1999, a high school class was getting ready to start their National History Day projects when one girl, Liz Cambers, happened upon and article about Irena Sendler, someone no one had ever heard of.
Liz decided to continue on with the Irena Sendler project and created the play "Life in a Jar" with a couple of her classmates.
I really enjoyed Life in a Jar because it was a very realistic book and it was eye opening to get a new perspective of WWII, something I have a great interest in.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with an interest of WWII or wanting a different perspective of WWII, but there are some graphic and depressing parts of the book.
