Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project

As the war continues, everyone suffers: “Every Pole in Warsaw, Aryan and Jew, [is] hungry. Orphans and starving children [beg] for food on both sides of the wall” (137). As a result, Dr. Ludwig Hahn visits Jan, furious at the “shameful reflection on the Reich” (137)—only, of course, on the Aryan side. Charged with handling the situation, the Social Welfare office sends trucks around Warsaw to pick up begging children.

The two Irenas are permitted to supervise their delousing. In the middle of preparation, Hahn arrives and orders them to have the children remove their clothes, which Irena recognizes as the “drop your pants” (137) test in order to see if any of the boys are circumcised, and therefore Jewish. Irena Sendler steps in and convinces Hahn to allow them to delouse the children first; she takes advantage of his acquiescence to sneak to circumcised boys out. Not knowing where to go, she takes them to Jaga’s apartment, which she is terrified to discover is across the street from an SS barracks.

Throughout the day, the two Irenas continue to separate Jewish boys from the other children, working through the night to find places for them to hide, 32 in total.