FEBRUARY 15 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

FEBRUARY 15

1910

Irena Sendlerowa (Sendler) (dob) was a Polish nurse, humanitarian, and social worker who served in the Polish Underground during World War II in German-occupied Warsaw. She was head of the children's section of Żegota, the Polish Council to Aid Jews (Polish: Rada Pomocy Żydom), which was active from 1942 to 1945.  With the assistance of two dozen members of Zegota, Sendler saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, providing them with shelter, and with false documents.  In 1965, Sendler was recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the Polish Righteous Among the Nations, and a tree was planted in her honor at the entrance to the Avenue of the Righteous in Jerusalem.  Following the collapse of the Russian regime, and independence of Poland, news about her heroic efforts were realized.  In 1991, Sendler was made an honorary citizen of Israel. On June 12, 1996, she was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, and the Commander's Cross with Star (even higher honor)  on November 7, 2001. In 2003, Pope John Paul II sent Sendler a personal letter praising her courage and sacrifices during the War.  On November10,  2003, she was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest civilian decoration, as well as the Polish-American award, the Jan Karski Award "For Courage and Heart", given by the American Center of Polish Culture in Washington, D.C and many, other awards.

1937

Senators blamed Jews in Polish University Riots. Several senators charged that Jewish students themselves were guilty in the university rioting. Senator Malinowsky alone defended the Jews, placing blame for the riots at the door of some university rectors, whose removal he demanded. Warsaw University announced the dismissal of Joseph Reichman, a lecturer, for having written an article in a Polish Progressive newspaper in which he condemned the anti-Jewish rioting at the university. The action was based on a new ordinance by the Ministry of Education, permitting disciplinary punishment against university lecturers, including reprimands and withdrawal of university titles.

2005

The Wildstein List is an index containing the names of approximately 162,000 individuals who are alleged to have worked for the Polish secret police (the Służba Bezpieczeństwa, or SB) or who were being recruited by, or under investigation.  The SB was a Soviet-backed secret police agency, which operated in Poland during the cold war. The Wildstein List was named after the Polish journalist, Bronislaw Wildstein, who uploaded the list of names to the internet. Apparently, he said that it was not intentional and was done in error.