Life in a Jar
Bourbon County, Kansas

To learn more about this project, visit the Life in a Jar Web site at www.irenasendler.org

In the fall of 1999, at Uniontown High School in Bourbon County, Kansas, four students were encouraged to work on a year long National History Day project which would extend the boundaries of the classroom to families in the community, contribute to history learning, teach respect and tolerance, and meet the classroom motto, "He who changes one person, changes the world entire."

Three ninth grade girls, Megan Stewart, Elizabeth Cambers, and Jessica Shelton, and an eleventh grade girl, Sabrina Coons, accepted the challenge and decided to enter their project in the National History Day program. Their teacher showed them a short clipping from a March 1994 issue of U.S. News and World Report, which said, “Irena Sendler saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942-43.” He told the girls the article might be a typographical error, since he had not heard of this woman or story. The students began their research and looked for primary and secondary sources throughout the year.

They discovered that Irena entered the Warsaw Ghetto under the disguise of a non-Jewish social worker and talked Jewish parents and grandparents out of their children, rightly saying that all were going to die in the Ghetto or in death camps. Irena took the children past the Nazi guards, using a variety of methods for escape: putting the sedated children in body bags, putting the sedated children under a seat on the tram car, or helping the children escape through the old courthouse. After removing the children from the ghetto, Irena and her coworkers adopted the children into the homes of Polish families or hid them in convents and orphanages. She made lists of the children's real names and put the lists in jars, then buried the jars in a garden, so that someday she could dig up the jars and find the children to tell them of their true identity.

The Nazis captured her and she was beaten severely, but the Polish underground bribed a guard to release her, and she entered into hiding. The students wrote a performance "Life in a Jar" in which they portrayed the life of Irena Sendler. They have performed this program for numerous clubs, religious organizations and civic groups in the community, around the state of Kansas, all over the U.S. and in Europe (250 presentations as of 2008). Although the community of Uniontown had little diversity and no Jewish students in the school district, the community was inspired by the project and sponsored an Irena Sendler Day. As the project developed, the students began to search for the final resting place of Irena and discovered she was still alive and living in Warsaw, Poland.

From that time on they would take a jar to every performance and collect funds for Irena and other Polish rescuers. The significance of this project grew through numerous letters the girls and Irena exchanged. After the girls wrote to Irena, she responded with deeply meaningful letters to them, with comments such as, “Your performance and work is continuing the effort I started over fifty years ago. You are my dearly beloved girls.”

At a local college the girls met a Polish student who began translating Irena’s letters into English for them. After the translation, the girls made a collection of the letters and have shared these documents with universities, historical societies, and the Chicago and New York City Jewish Foundations for the Righteous. At least sixty colleges have been using these letters from Irena, as well as project information in their curriculum. The girls’ cause for Irena Sendler became a national cause; they had rediscovered this courageous woman. In addition, the media discovered Irena’s heroism. As a result, the girls appeared on C-SPAN, National Public Radio, CBS, CNN, the Today Show and in numerous newspaper and magazine articles. The students were invited to perform in Washington, D.C. and before a Jewish foundation in New York City. As a result of the project, they have become knowledgeable on the subjects of the Holocaust, World War II, and the Polish Underground.

During presentations great emotions pour out of the audience. These young women have literally taken the class motto and brought it to life. They would regularly write on their homework papers such notes as, "I'm changing the world" and "Irena's story must be told." The male and female students in the project have all experienced great emotional situations in life. Sabrina's mother, who was very inspirational to her, passed away in June 2002 at age 49. Megan's mother was 47 and seriously ill with cancer, she passed away in June 2006.

In 2001, the students continued to dream of visiting Warsaw, meeting Irena, the surviving children, and others connected to this story. In January 2001, they performed before a large school district in a city about 100 miles from Uniontown. After the performance, a Jewish educator and businessman asked to have lunch with the group that day. He informed the girls he would raise the money to send them to Warsaw; however, he requested they go that spring since Irena was 91 years old and in poor health. The businessman raised the money in twenty-four hours.

On May 22, 2001, the teacher, Norm Conard, traveled with the four students, several parents (Bill and Phyllis Cambers and Debra Stewart), and his wife Karen, to Warsaw, Poland. They spent time with Irena Sendler and then extended the boundaries of the classroom to the world. The Polish organization for the Children of the Holocaust arranged a meeting between the rescuers and the children saved; this meeting the first in many years. They also met a famous Polish poet who was saved by Irena. Moreover, an author of a well known memoir of the Holocaust, who was rescued by Irena called the students "rescuers of the rescuer, rescuers of Irena's story." The Polish press made this story international news. Irena's story was finally reaching others.

The group met Elzbieta Ficowska and heard her beautiful story of being rescued at the age of 5 months by Irena, who carried her out in a carpenter's box.

The story of Irena Sendler continues to expand, continues to inspire. People find the story to be much more complex than originally viewed. Irena had made false documents for people in the Warsaw area from 1939 to 1942, helping save many, BEFORE she joined the underground Zegota and started saving children. In fact, Irena's life has been one of standing up for others. Her father was an inspiration for serving the world. Irena asked that we mention that twenty-five others were under her guidance in saving children from the Ghetto, and a number of others were helping outside the Ghetto.

With this project the students (twelve are now working on the project - see the Sendler family - including Travis Stewart, Ellie Perrey and Jaime Walker) are extending the classroom into the world community in the following ways: publishing the interviews, performing before large audiences, sharing letters from Irena with students and educators, (copies have been requested and sent to over 250 schools) and interviewing with local and national press. This project has created ongoing interactive communication with families in our community and communities across the country.

Irena Sendler passed away on May 12, 2008, a date that coincides with Megan (Stewart) Felt’s birthday; Megan has portrayed Irena for many years. Although the original students have graduated from college and are married,two with children, they all still take part in the project and play. The present cast ranges from college students to those in their mid twenties. Returning for a final visit, the cast saw Irena a week before she died. Her final words to them were, “You have changed Poland; you have changed the United States; you have changed the world I love you very, very much.” By bringing Irena’s story to light, Poland has seen great changes in Holocaust education, in the perception of the time and have provided a grand hero for their country and the world.

To read more, and to learn all about the project, visit www.irenasendler.org.