Children hidden to get over walls
Irena devised numerous methods to get the children out. Some were hidden in toolboxes, others in potato sacks, or in coffins marked « victim of typhus. » The Germans feared this disease and avoided opening the coffins.
She also used ambulances, in which the children were hidden under stretchers. Sometimes she smuggled them through the sewers. On other occasions, she used court buildings, which had passages leading to both sides of the wall.
Irena also had a dog that she had trained to bark on command. When the Germans approached, the animal would start barking to cover up any noises that might reveal the presence of the children.
Every operation could prove fatal. A cry, a cough, or a misplaced glance was enough to condemn all those involved.
Day after day, Irena risked her life.
Preserve the identity of the rescued children
Irena knew that getting the children out of the ghetto was not enough. Once placed in Polish families, orphanages or convents, they received new identities, new first names and new stories.
But she refused to let their true identities disappear along with their former lives. After the war, these children would need to know who they were. They should also be able to find their loved ones, if any had survived.
Irena then began to record all the available information. On small sheets of paper, she noted the children’s real names, their parents’ names, their address, and their origin. She also wrote down their new identities and the place where they had been placed.
She would then enclose these papers in glass jars, which she would bury under an apple tree in the garden of a neighbor on Lekarska Street.
Every day, new names were added to the list. Every day, the number of jars increased.
