The Millstone Times

Life in a Jar In 1991, Sendler was made an honorary citizen of Israel. On 12 June 1996, she was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restitu- ta. She received a higher version of this award, the Commander's Cross with Star, on 7 November 2001.

The play, Life in a Jar, written by the three Kansas students and their teacher, which was performed over 200 times in the states and abroad, was adapted for television as The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009), in which Sendler was portrayed by actress Anna Paquin. In 2003, Pope John Paul II sent Sendler a personal letter praising her wartime efforts. November 2003, she received the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest civilian decoration, and the Polish-American award, the Jan Kar- ski Award "For Courage and Heart," given by the American Center of Polish Culture in Washington, D.C. In 2006, Polish NGOs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, and the Life in a Jar Foundation established the Irena Sendler's Award "For Repairing the World" was awarded to Polish and American teachers. The Life in a Jar Foundation is a foundation dedicated to promoting the attitude and message of Irena Sendler. On 14 March 2007, Sendler was honored by the Senate of Poland, and a year later, on 30 July, by the United States Congress. On 11 April 2007, she received the Order of the Smile; at that time, she was the oldest recipient of the award. In 2007 she became an honorary citizen of the cities of Warsaw and Tarczyn. In April, 2009, Sendler was posthumously granted the Humanitarian of the Year award fromThe Sister Rose Thering Endowment, and in May 2009, Sen- dler was posthumously granted the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award. Around this time American filmmaker Mary Skinner filmed a documenta- ry, Irena Sendler, In the Name of Their Mothers, featuring the last interviews Sendler gave before her death. The film made its national U.S. broadcast pre- miere through KQED Presents on PBS in May 2011 in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day and went on to receive several awards, including the 2012 Gracie Award for outstanding public television documentaries.

In 2010, a memorial plaque commemorating Sendler was added to the wall of 2 Pawińskiego Street in Warsaw – a building in which she worked from 1932 to 1935. In 2015 she was honored with another memorial plaque at 6 Ludwiki Street, where she lived from the 1930s to 1943. Several schools in Poland have also been named after her. In 2013, the walkway in front of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw was named after Sendler. In 2016, a permanent exhibit was established to honor Sendler's life at the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes Museum, in Fort Scott, KS. In 2021, a statue of her in Newark, Nottinghamshire, was announced. In 2010, Polish historian Anna Mieszkowska wrote a biography Irena Sendler: Mother of the Children of the Holocaust. In 2011, Jack Mayer tells the story of the four Kansas school girls and their discovery of Irena Sendler in his novel Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project. In 2016, Irena's Children, a book about Sendler written by Tilar J. Mazzeo, was released by Simon & Schuster. Aversion adapted to be read by children was created by Mary Cronk Farell. Another children's picture book titled Jars of Hope: How One Woman Helped Save 2,500 Children During the Ho- locaust, is written by Jennifer Roy and illustrated by Meg Owenson. 'Sendler: In Hiding', a biography and book about the people and events related to Sendler's wartime activities, was written by Anna Bikont and pub- lished in 2017. There are many other unsung heroes, long past, who like Irena, risked their very own lives to save others. If not for the pursuit for truth by the three American students, Irena’s bravery would never have been recognized. Irena died May- 2008, at the age of 95. She received a hero’s funeral. By Pam Teel

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