Irena's List: Irena Sendler

A forged ID, a nurse’s armband, and a will that never broke. We share the astonishing real story of Irena Sendler, the Polish social worker who smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and buried their true names in glass jars beneath an apple tree. From her father’s dying lesson—“jump in to save the drowning”—to her cool defiance at university benches, Irena learned early that compassion is a verb. When the ghetto sealed and starvation spread, she turned bureaucracy into a shield: epidemic passes, forged papers, and a rescue network that moved babies in crates and older kids through churches and courthouses that straddled the wall.

We walk through the logistics and the heartbreak: convincing parents to let children go with no guarantee of reunion, training kids to pass as Catholic under a guard’s questions, and using an ambulance dog to drown out a baby’s cry at a checkpoint. The jars of names become a second rescue, a promise that identity and lineage would endure even if families could not. Captured and tortured in 1943, Irena refused to betray anyone and faced a firing squad—until a bribed guard wrote her down as executed and slipped her into hiding. After the war, she unearthed the jars and tried to reconnect survivors, even as communist Poland buried her story for decades.

The twist arrives from an unlikely place: three Kansas students who unearthed a single line about Irena and turned it into Life in a Jar, a school play that helped restore her legacy. We reflect on late recognition, the courage of ordinary families and nuns who hid children at mortal risk, and why small acts—papers, passes, doors held open—can bend history. If you’re drawn to hidden World War II stories, the Warsaw Ghetto, Holocaust rescue, and the power of names and memory, this conversation will stay with you long after it ends.

If this moved you, tap follow, share it with a friend, and leave a review telling us which moment you’ll remember—and why.

Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/sendler.html

Life in a Jar Foundation (by the Kansas students who rediscovered her story)
https://www.irenasendler.org

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) – Irena Sendler
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/irena-sendler

Chabad.org: Irena Sendler: The Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1079233/jewish/Irena-Sendler.htm

Aish.com: Remembering Irena Sendler
https://aish.com/irena-sendler-the-unsung-hero-of-the-holocaust/

PBS / Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation
https://www.jewishpartisans.org/partisans/irena-sendler

The Guardian obituary (2008)
https://www.theguardian.com

Transcript

Banter And Setup

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Oh hey there. Take 24. This is Bradley.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

I'm Kate.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

This is a history of buffoons.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

And he's not lying.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

No, because I don't know. Every time we're joking around doing it, and then you're like, all right, let's do this, and I'm like, okay, and then they're like and I just yeah. Anyways.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

You I don't give you time to prepare.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

How are you today?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I'm good. How are you?

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Um well.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Did you have a good Christmas?

SPEAKER_03 0:45

I had a fabulous Christmas. Awesome. How did you do?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

I cleaned a lot.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Yeah, sounds benign. I don't know what I just picked a word.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Boring.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

That too.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Although everything looks really nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

I came to record at your house and I'm like, whose house am I in?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

I know. So weird. What the hell? It's because I had a lot of just like random clutter shit. I don't want.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Let's let's be transparent here. You didn't have a lot of random clutter. Good old hubby.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

He does.

SPEAKER_03 1:19

Has a lot of random clutter.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Nathan has a lot of random. And it's because he's he's so into woodworking and all the tools that come with it.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

But the problem is he's got like 20 projects going all on, so he needs everything like where accessible, which I get, don't get me wrong, but it's like it's a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

So yeah, I think I found like four hunting knives.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Or like did you?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Yeah. Just in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Well, I mean, that's a decent spot for those.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

If they were in random, they were all in random, not drawers.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

Yeah, but if they were if the if you found four in the bathroom. That's fair. A little weird. That's fair. Just saying.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

So today we're gonna talk about arena sendler.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Arena sendler? Like arena you play football in, but a person's name? Spelt the same way?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

I R E N A. Is it Irina? I guess. Is it not Irina? Irena.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

I think it would be Arena. It would be Irina.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

That's what I said. Irena.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

I have recorded proof otherwise.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Irina.

SPEAKER_03 2:27

Irena.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Irena. It's Irena Sendler.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Did I say it wrong again? No, it's she's four foot eleven.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

That is a tiny person.

Childhood Lesson That Shaped A Hero

SPEAKER_01 2:39

She was armed with a fake ID, a toolbox, and nerves of steel. She was a Polish social worker who outwitted the Nazis 2,500 times. And you've probably never heard of her.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Okay. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Perfect. What are you drinking?

SPEAKER_03 3:01

I have a delicious winter treat. Again. Sierra celebration.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Yeah, we wanted our normal type of drinks. I'm drinking a cooper's banquet.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

We didn't go anything to Schrooper French Frenchy, but um I don't have much longer for this time frame of this being out, so I'm like, yeah, I'll grab a grab a six-pack plus some banquets. So um I have two and a half to go. We'll see how I get.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Okay, so Irina Sandler.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Look at you go learning.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Was born Irina Kryzynoska. Don't even say it again.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

No, no, no, no, no. Hear me out. We never have to hear that again, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

One more. Fuck. One more time.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

Get ready, folks. It's gonna be a plug-in.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Technically, I don't have to say it again.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Now you do.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

But uh, she was born in 1910 in a town near Warsaw, Poland.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Hey, I know that place.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Her father, Dr. Stanislav Krasinzanowska. Boom.

SPEAKER_04 4:12

Nailed it.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Um, he was a physician with a big heart. Um, he was the kind of doctor who treated poor patients for free, including many Jewish families.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

That's nice.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

And what when Irina was just seven years old, a typhus epidemic swept through their town. Okay. And her dad was the only doctor who stayed to take care of all the sick.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

They all just bailed because they're like fuck this about.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah. And of course, he ended up contracting the disease himself.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Oh dear. So did he treat himself?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Not to like a nice dinner, but I mean, I probably would treat myself to a nice dinner.

SPEAKER_03 4:49

Did he die from it?

SPEAKER_01 4:50

He did.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Um, on his deathbed in 1917, he made sure to teach um his daughter one final lesson, and she literally took that lesson with her everywhere. He said, quote, if you see someone drowning, you must jump in to save them, whether you can swim or not.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Um can she swim?

SPEAKER_01 5:13

AKA help people in need without overthinking it. Just do what's right.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Help and and you know, we're getting into a time frame where a lot of help was needed, obviously. So um what was I just gonna say? There's not this mentality anymore, which really sucks. You know, the funny thing is like social media was supposed to bring you together and it's pushed people further apart. Most people don't know how to interact when they're in a public setting because they're on their fucking phone because that's their friend. They think they have thousands of friends on Facebook or whatever, and it's like they don't fucking know you. Yeah, nobody really knows you. But yet they think they're popular.

University Protest Against Antisemitism

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah. Fuck that. So Irina was raised Catholic, but her father, um, her his example taught her to never discriminate. So in the 1930s, she attended the University of Warsaw and quickly proved that she wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in. At the time, anti-Semitism Semitism, yeah, semi-speaking. You said it right. Okay. Um it was common in Poland and colleges as well. And Jewish Jewish students were segregated, forced to sit on uh separate Jewish benches and lecture halls.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

That's so fucking wild.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Most non-Jewish students went along with this rule, but not Irina. One day she sat on the Jewish side of the classroom. Scandalous. When a preference professor demanded that she move to the Aryan side. Oh, Jesus Christ. Arena coolly replied, I'm Jewish today. Of course, she was suspended from the university for that act.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Indefinitely?

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah. Oh shit.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

So she was expelled, not suspended.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Um, decades later, under communist rule, she was considered um a subversive. Her son and daughter were refused entry into Warsaw University, but I'll get to that. Okay. We'll talk about that a little bit later. Right. The university marked her record as a Philo Seminite or lover of Jews and the leftists, with which made it hard for her to get jobs later.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

And a leftist. But wasn't she right-handed? I'm sorry. That was poor.

From Social Work To War

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Outside of school, Irina's compassion also drew her towards social work. She joined humanitarian student groups and later trained as a social worker. By the late 1930s, she was working for the welfare department of the city of Warsaw.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

In this job, she helped organize soup kitchens and provide assistance to the poor, elderly, and orphans in the city. So she was deeply committed to help bring those most vulnerable.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yeah. So in September 1939, World War II crashes into Poland.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

Sure does.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Nazi Germany invaded, conquering Warsaw within weeks. And life in Warsaw Warsaw turned into a nightmare almost overnight, especially for the Jewish population. Right. The Nazis imposed brutal laws on Jews, forcing them to wear identifying armbands, keep them out of jobs, and confine them to a small section of the city that became the infamous Warsaw ghetto.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

So before the war, Warsaw had like a vibrant Jewish community, which was about 30% of the city.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

But apparently they were pretty anti-Jewish, though. Because they had their own fucking sections. Right?

SPEAKER_01 8:54

They who?

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Warsaw? The general population was against them?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Or was it just at the college or the university?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

No, everywhere was anti-Semitism.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Isn't that fucking weird though?

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Why?

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Because, like, I don't know. That that was the whole Nazi Hitler thing. But yet it was already there in Poland.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

They were already being segregated, not murdered.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

No, I I get that, but alright.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Anyways, I guess I think look at me being progressive and you being a I think maybe obviously in the grand scheme of things, Warsaw being segregated was like minute versus Nazi Germany, which is like we're gonna take this and like I understand that.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

I'm just saying it's just funny because like the same ideologies walked into what they were already at. It's like that's just seems fucked up to me. Yeah, I guess is all I'm really trying to say. But it's extreme. It was too definite further extreme. I agree, but just I don't know, it just seems weird because that's what the Nazi Party was all about, more or less. And uh besides world domination too. But like they they go and conquer this place and they already thought that way. Yeah. I don't know, it just seems wild to me.

Building The Rescue Network

SPEAKER_01 10:12

So yeah, is all um not all Jews were being crammed behind ghetto walls. Um scar sorry, all Jews were now being crammed behind. Not all lucky on some, but already um they were behind the ghetto walls, cut off from the outside with barbed wire and armed guards. Right. Conditions were horrific. Starvation, disease, and overcrowding. Um, eventually, over 450,000 people would be imprisoned in that tiny ghetto neighborhood.

SPEAKER_03 10:48

Wow, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Irina was in her late 20s, still working as a senior administrator in the social welfare department. So she had kids at this point, you said already? So she does have a family. I don't talk about it. That's okay. She's she was married, then divorced, then married her first guy again, and then divorced.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

They just could not make it work.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

And I think she had three kids.

SPEAKER_03 11:12

Okay, just curious.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yeah. Um, I I have their information and everything. I wrote as kind of like an afterthought if you wanted to know about it.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

I mean, the biggest thing I want to know was they were they all taller than her? I don't know. Because 4'11, that is a tiny little what's the word I'm looking for? Woman? Yeah, I guess. I mean, that is that is that is I mean, I'm 6'3. I'm I'm decently tall. I'm not the tallest by any stretch, but I'm I'm decently tall. 4'11. God damn, that's short.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

So at first her resistance was small and quiet, like her. She saw Jewish friends and neighbors being prosecuted and persecuted, different. Um she began helping wherever she could. So she and colleagues forged hundreds of false documents for Jewish families so they could receive aid and food rations under Christian names. Wow, nice. They listed Jews as sick with typhus or tuberculosis to discourage Nazi investigations since they were terrified of contagious disease. Right. She also offered shelter to Jews who managed to escape or hide. And all this was extremely dangerous. Aiding Jews was punishable by death in occupied Poland.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

But Arena didn't hesitate.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Well, good on her.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

By 1942, Arena faced a terrible realization. Her efforts so far, as important as they were, weren't enough in her eyes. They weren't enough. So the Nazis' um persecution was escalating from oppression to murder. Yep. And inside the Warsaw ghetto, people were dying at a rate of 5,000 a month from disease and starvation.

SPEAKER_03 13:05

It's a lot of months.

Smuggling Tactics And Escape Routes

SPEAKER_01 13:07

And then we have deportations after that. Sure. So by this time, the Nazis had built Treblinka, the extermination camp not far away. Yep. Many in the ghetto thought deportation meant resettlement or labor camps. But Treblinka was purely a death factory, gas chambers and ovens, nothing else. Yeah. So Arena and her fellow social workers smuggled food and medicine into the ghetto trying to alleviate some of their suffering. Yeah. But Arena just felt like she was prolonging the suffering, like it couldn't save lives in the long run.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

No, she was she was making them comfortable per se in the meantime, but yet they're still going to literally this death camp and or dying of disease within the ghetto or whatever. So yeah, no, I I get her her thought process on that.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

So in late 1942, she joined an organization called Zagoda. It is the Council for Aid to Drew Jews, which was um set up by the Polish Underground Resistance. Okay. Zagoda was unique. It was specifically dedicated to helping Jews survive, funded partly by the Polish government in exile and with support from Jewish groups abroad. Sure. So they need someone, they needed someone to head the children's division in arena, only 32 years old, and a new mother at this time agreed without a second thought.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Excuse me. Irena believed that the children were the most innocent and vulnerable victims. Well, yeah, I mean, I'd have to kind of agree with that a little bit, but she said, quote, when the war started, all of Poland was drowning in a sea of blood, but most of all, it affected the Jewish nation. And within that nation, it was the children who suffered most. That's why we needed to give our hearts to them.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

So that was now her mission was to save the children.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

So how do you save children who were trapped in this ghetto by soldiers who will shoot you for sneezing too hard? Anything, yeah. Yeah. Um, she had a lot of tricks up her sleeve.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

So she went by the code name Jolenta or Yolenta, depending on Jolenta. Yolenta. It's a magical name. Um, she put together a network of about 25 friends and co-conspirators, mostly women but some men. They they divided up these tasks. Ten people devoted themselves to sneaking children out of the ghetto. Another 10 focused on find finding safe um hiding places for the kids. And the remaining five handled the the job of forging documents and IDs for the children.

SPEAKER_04 15:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

So kind of like a high-stakes relay team with Arena coordinating it all. Sure. As a city social worker, Irina had a special advantage. She managed to get an official pass from the epidemic control department to enter the ghetto on the pretext of checking for disease outbreaks. Oh, wow. So the Nazis were terrified of these diseases spreading beyond the ghetto. So they allowed a few Polish health workers to go inside.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Yeah, like you, you do this.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:32

Well, I mean, I don't blame them because the shit could spread, especially with, you know, the way that the armies are are working and so on. They're like, we're not going to risk our lives. Yeah, you fucking go ahead. Yeah. Report back.

The Jars Of Names

SPEAKER_01 16:44

So Irvina used this pass as her cover to walk into the ghetto daily, wearing a news nurse's uniform, sometimes a social welfare band, um, carrying food and medicine. She wasn't there, obviously, to give aid. I mean, not just aid. No. She was scouting for children. Correct. So at first, she rescued orphans who were found on the streets, kids who had no parents or had been abandoned or were doomed to die alone. That's sad. Taking them out was heartbreaking, but straightforward in the sense that no parent had to be persuaded.

SPEAKER_04 17:17

Which is true.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

But soon enough, Irina realized that she could save more children by approaching families inside the ghetto. Right. So the most agonizing part for her was persuading Jewish mothers and fathers to hand over their children to her, especially to a stranger. Well, right. No guarantee of safety, no guarantee of ever seeing them again.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

But if you look at it like what guarantees do they have staying with them?

SPEAKER_01 17:43

And that's that was her argument. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

Because uh you gotta look at it like again, people dying of disease within the ghetto. People being, all right, well, you're on this next truck to death death camp. You know, it's like I I get how it would be like okay, put myself in that situation with my kids. I wouldn't want Xavier and Vesper to be taken away from my this random lady who says we're trying to help them. Yeah. Because I'm like, I don't want to not see you again, but I also don't want them to die. Yeah. So it's it's really a double-edged sword. It's like, what do I do?

SPEAKER_01 18:16

It is, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

Yeah, it's tough.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah. Um, understandably, most parents struggle to let go, even knowing that it might be their only chance for their child to live.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Irina, who had a toddler son at home, found it almost unbearably painful to ask of this.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Um, she later said it was the hardest part of her work, and the only thing that gave her the strength to keep doing it was knowing the terrible alternative. If the child stayed, the child would most certainly die. Sure. So convincing the parents was step one. Next came actually sneaking the children out under the noses of the German guards.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Irina Entertainment used creative methods, um, um, kind of like a smuggling pipeline.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Small babies were often sedated to keep them from crying. Oh dear. They were hidden in boxes, suitcases, backpacks type stuff, whatever. Does it rule boxes? Yeah. Absolutely. One rescued involved hiding an infant under loose potatoes in a cart.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

Oh, Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yes. Another effective ploy, Arena smuggled a child out in a coffin, pretending to be transporting a dead body.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Older children who could pass as sick or injured were placed on stretchers or snuck out in ambulances as ambulances were allowed to go in for medical emergencies. Sure. Arena had a friendly um ambulance driver in on the scheme, and together they pulled off um a trick straight out of a movie. Basically, they kept a dog in the ambulance, trained to bark on command. And whenever they were leaving the ghetto with a hidden child, um, maybe a baby on a girdle. Or whatever, and a German guard would approach, the dog would start to bark pretty loudly. The dog's noise would drown out the potential of the children's noise. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

So that's wild, like to think that that could work.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

And then this dog barking can also trigger the German guard's dog's barking.

Arrest, Torture, And Death Sentence

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Yeah, no doubt. Because they're like, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

Fido said something though. What did he what did he say?

SPEAKER_01 20:26

So another escape route Arena used involved two buildings that directly um butted up against the um ghetto wall. Okay. A courthouse and a Catholic church. Oh shit. And these buildings had entrances inside the ghetto and exits on the non-Jewish side. Right. So Arena's team would sneak children through these buildings. For the church route, they taught older kids basic uh Catholic prayers and how to make the sign of the cross. The children would be led into the church from the ghetto side, often pretending to attend a service. Right. Inside, they would remove their Star of David and try to look confident. Then they would simply walk out the front door of the church onto the opposite side.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

Like they just got out of a service.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Exactly, exactly. Wow. German soldiers stood at the door and would sometimes quiz the children with questions like a line from a prayer or a saint's name trying to catch Jewish kids.

unknown 21:26

Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

But Arena's training was really, really good.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Apparently, because I would have fucked that up.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

None of the children were ever caught coming out of the church.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

That's wild. The fact that that worked, because you gotta, I mean, I know it's very troubling times, obviously. But could you imagine be like, uh I again, I'm not very religious, so this this isn't really gonna work in what I'm trying to say, but it's like, who is such and such?

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Like, I know, I would like freeze on the spot.

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Yeah, I'd be like, brain fart.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Sorry. I'm yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

I just I just had a meaningful service. Don't quiz me, man. I'm I'm still drunk with God.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Drunk with God. Exactly. I mean, right? You're not wrong.

SPEAKER_03 22:09

I I just I would fuck it up, basically, because I I don't know how I would have I don't I don't know how I would have passed that test. And then probably like, nope, go back or shoo yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah, fuck. So arena and her network had many pathways, hidden compartments and trucks, secret passages through basements, even the city sewers and underground tunnel tunnels were used. They truly try to leave no stone unturned. And outside the ghetto, once a child was out, they excuse me, they provided false identity papers and new Polish names for each child.

SPEAKER_04 22:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

And they found safe havens for these kids by placing them with trusted police, nope, Polish families, orphanages, or convents willing to hide Jewish children.

SPEAKER_04 23:01

Right.

Bribed Escape And Hiding

SPEAKER_01 23:02

So this was incredibly dangerous for the caretakers as well. Any Polish family caught hiding a Jew could be executed along with their own family under Nazi law. Correct. Despite this, many, many souls agree to shelter the children. Irena said later that surprisingly, no one ever refused to take a child from her, knowing all the risks.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Isn't that wild? Because, like, you do that today. I mean, God forbid something like that would it's all save yourself. Yeah. Yeah. People are like, I ain't fucking taking your kid. Fuck off. Uh I'm looking out for numero uno. Yeah. But that's the kind of like mentality we've beaten into everybody is now is like no sense of community, all about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

What's the um the Jezzelnik thoughts and prayer? Yeah, the thoughts and prayers. Don't forget about me today.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

Yeah, on a tragedy. Yeah, it's like someone's like sending my thoughts and prayers, meaning basically also just means don't forget about me today on this tragic day that has nothing to do with me. It's so true. Yeah. Because that's what this social media world has created. It's like, God forbid, no one's paying attention to me, but I'm an influencer. How could you not?

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Don't forget about me today.

unknown 24:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

And I'll about go fuck yourself.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

So all of this actually worked day after day. Children vanished from the ghetto and reappeared in new lives on the outside. That's wild. Many of the very young ones were too small to remember their real names or where they came from once they were safe. But that leads us to one of Irena's most important actions.

SPEAKER_04 24:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

She kept track of every child's identity.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

So from the start, she was determined that these children should not lose their true names or family heritage.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

They're just borrowing another one for the time being. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

So she made lists. For each child, she wrote down their birth name, Jewish family name, and their new Polish name and location.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

I never seen the movie Irina's List.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

No.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

I mean, it's kind of similar-ish, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:13

No, we I mean we talked very briefly about Schindler, but yes.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

You know.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

Either way.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

So she used thin cigarette paper or tissue to record these names. Okay. And then she would hide the lists in glass jars. And after after each rescue, she would make the notes with all the children's names and bury them in jars under the ground in a friend's garden under an apple tree.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Um her friend's name was Mrs. Piatroska. Okay. Um, and she was right across the street from a German barracks.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

That's wild. I assume they dug all these up already. Yes. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

So those jars in the dirt held the real identities of all of her children, quote unquote her children, um, like little time capsules.

SPEAKER_04 26:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Irina's dream was that after the war, she would dig up the jars and use the list to reunite every child with their parents or relatives.

SPEAKER_04 26:13

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

It was a slim hope, even though then she knew many parents were likely already dead.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

But she still had that hope.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

But they at least, whether they're dead or not, which obviously you hope for the better of those two choices, at least you could be like, This was these were your parents. Reconnect with family as best you can, so on and so forth. So I mean, at least you hope for the best possible outcome, but at the same time, you're really hoping that at least you can give them a sense of what they were, who they came from, and also what else, what other family members that might still be out there. You can at least connect that way. So yeah, I get that.

Communist Era Erasure

SPEAKER_01 26:50

So the lists were obviously incredibly incriminating if the Gestapo ever found them. Well, yeah. They would be a roadmap to every rescue child and everyone involved in hiding them, which also would be a death sentence for all. So everyone involved, yep. So of course Irina guarded them with her life. Sure. At one point, she briefly kept a list at home. Oh God. And German agents showed up unexpectedly. One of her colleagues had to hide the list in her underwear at the last second to keep it from being discovered. Oh, Jesus. After that scare, Irina never kept the list on her person.

SPEAKER_03 27:26

Thank God. I mean, I can't believe she did from the get-go. I mean, I'm I get it maybe, but Jesus Christ. Yeah. That is so incriminating, and you would have fucked a lot of people if just you got caught.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

I know. So the jars underneath the ground by the apple tree was the only archive.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Sure. No, I get that.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

So every few days she would dig them up, update them with new names, and rebury them. By late 1943, there were 2,500 names.

unknown 27:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

How many does Schindler have?

SPEAKER_01 27:57

Uh 13, 14, something like that. I mentioned it later.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

She crushes them.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

So all this work had to be done under extreme secrecy and constant fear. Irina moved around the city frequently, changing addresses as often as she could.

SPEAKER_03 28:15

Oh, Irina actually did? Yep. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

She even wore a star of David Armband herself when walking in the ghetto, partly out of solidarity, partly to blend in and not draw attention.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

So for about 18 months, from late 1942 through 1943, Irina walked into that ghetto nearly every day and each time walked out with a child hidden somewhere on her person or vehicle.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

Okay, I'm gonna reference a previous episode of ours.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

She is way cooler than that piece of shit, Georgia Tan.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Georgia Tan! That dumb Oh my god, Georgia Tan.

SPEAKER_03 28:52

This is a real true person, not fucking Georgia Tan.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

What episode was that? Like seven or something? It was it was pretty early. It was early on, Georgia Tan. She is cruel.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

She was a she was a evil, evil, evil fucking person. Yeah, she was. Irena or Arena. Awesome.

Kansas Students Rediscover Irena

SPEAKER_01 29:12

So Arena tried to prepare for every contingency. Um inevitably the Gestapo started closing in.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

This kind of extensive operation does leave some traces.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

It's always going to.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

There were rumors in the ghetto and likely informants about children being smuggled out. The Nazis noticed that not as many kids were showing up in the deportations.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

I was just gonna say, I mean, you're gonna start noticing because it's like you have all these children throughout this ghetto, and I'm like, where's Billy? Yeah, you know, it's where the heck did he go? Where's where's little Jimmy? I mean, I don't know, whatever their names are, obviously. But you know, you're gonna start noticing like, wait a minute, something's off here because parents, parents, I used to see you with a kid. Where's your fucking kid?

SPEAKER_05 30:03

Right.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

And so, yeah, I can imagine that it's gonna collapse at some point.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

So the Nazis noticed that not as many kids were showing up. They didn't know who was responsible at first, but they were tur determined to find out. In October of October of 1943, they got Irina.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Oh, they did?

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:24

All four feet eleven inches of her.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Yep. October 20th of 1943, Irina's luck ran out. The Gestapo arrested her and dragged her off to Paviac Prison.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

Paviac? I don't know. I'm not familiar with that one.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

It is a notorious Nazi prison in Warsaw. Okay. It seems someone betrayed her address to the Gestapo. Not sure if it was a paid informant, which was pretty common back then.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

I mean, as far as you know, it could have been someone trying to save their own skin, too.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 30:55

I mean, unfortunately. You would hope not, because you would hope to honestly, unfortunately, take one for the team. But when you're when you're forced to, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Oh, Arena takes one for the team. Uh, it sounds that way. Her precious jars remained safely buried in the garden undiscovered.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

Um, but Arena was now in enemy hands.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

So the Nazis immediately began to torture her. Of course. Determined to make her reveal the names of her collaborators and the identify uh identities and locations of the rescued kids.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

They broke both of her feet. They broke both of her legs.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

Not her hands.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Feet and legs.

SPEAKER_03 31:36

I got that.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Shattered her bones with beatings. They beat her brutally for days, leaving permanently scarred. I read one one thing that said that she was wheelchair bound for the rest of her life. I read another thing that she eventually just walked with a limp.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Jeez, that's that's quite a bit different. I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

But after all of this, Irina did not talk. Not a single name.

Late Honors, Legacy, And Closing

SPEAKER_03 32:03

I mean, seriously. I would say the people doing this to her don't know her. The little bit I've learned about her would have never guessed anything else. Yeah, exactly. Seriously.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

So this 33-year-old woman endured agony and never gave up on her friends or the children. She later said that while being tortured, she was more afraid of accidentally biting her tongue off from the pain than she was of dying. Yep. Because if she died without telling them anything, that was fine by her. She just didn't want to slip up and say something under duress.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Sure. Which a lot of times in interrogations, that happens.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

So frustrated and furious, the Gestapo sentenced sentenced Irina to death by firing squad. Oh dear. She had seen others go before the firing squaw squad at Paviac. She knew that it was that it was coming for her. Sure. And by all accounts, she accepted her death sentence with calmness and pride. She had done the right thing, protected the children. If she had to die for it, so be it. Um, and of course, any other place in time, this might have been the end of the story, but it wasn't.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

No, right.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Um, Zagoda, the underground organization, yeah, was not about to let their mother of children perish if they could help it. Sure. They managed to bribe some German guards at Paviak Prison.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

Really?

SPEAKER_01 33:27

The details are fuzzy. Oh, they're not fuzzy. It's something straight out of like a thriller movie.

SPEAKER_03 33:35

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

On the very day of her scheduled execution in early 1944, a guard came to take Arena from her cell, but instead of leading her to the firing squad, she snuck out to a safe spot and he snuck her out to a safe spot and let her go free.

SPEAKER_03 33:52

That's wild.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Basically, they had effectively bought her life. So what happened to that guard? Oh, he gets his comeuppance. Yeah, I'm sure. The guard wrote her name on the list of executed prisoners, and the Gestapo, not realizing the ruse, announced that Arena Sendler had been shot.

SPEAKER_04 34:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

The next day, posters went up around Warsaw, trumpeting the death of this Jewish savior conspirator. Yeah. Arena herself now hiding, saw the notices of her own name on them. Um it was useful though, since the Germans thought she was dead. They presumably presumably stopped looking for her.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

Well, of course, you would you would hope.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

But the Gestapo realized that she had escaped. According to one account, the duped officers were so enraged that they sent the poor bribed guard to the Eastern Front as punishment, which is essentially a death sentence.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Yeah. Because he's going to fight the the Soviets, then, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

So she went into deep hiding though, Irena.

SPEAKER_03 35:01

Well, I would hope so.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

She had to move from place to place using false identities, much like the children she had saved. And despite being physically crippled, um, she didn't quit the resistance. She couldn't directly continue rescuing children.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

Not like she was, of course.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

By then it's nine early 1944. Yep. Um the Warsaw ghetto had been completely liquidated. The survivor, the surviving Jews of Warsaw were either in hiding or in camps. Yep. Um, but she still helped where she could working with Zagoda on other efforts until the war's end.

SPEAKER_04 35:34

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

So when World War II finally ended in 1945, Irina Sendler emerged from hiding into a devastated country.

SPEAKER_04 35:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Warsaw was in ruins from the uprising and the war. Yep. Over 85% of the city had been destroyed.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

Isn't that wild? So so crazy how much they destroyed.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

And the Holocaust had wiped out most of Poland's Jewish population.

SPEAKER_03 35:59

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

So amidst this rubble, Irina's first priority dig up those jars.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Fuck yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

She retraved the glass jars from underneath the apple tree, hoping to fulfill her promise of reuniting families. Yep. Sadly, in most cases, there were there were no family left.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Well, yeah, which we expected because again, that's why I said, you know, worst case, hopefully you can connect with extended family members. Because you knew a lot of these moms, dads, brothers, sisters, whatever were going to be fucking dead. And it's sad, but unfortunately, that was what the outcome was gonna be in that time frame. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

So all almost all the parents of the children had perished in Treblinka or other death camps.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Irena and some colleagues from Zagoda worked tirelessly to find any surviving relatives. Exactly. So using the list, they did manage to reconnect some children with aunts, uncles, or other family.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Good.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

But for the vast majority of the 2,500, there was no one left. Right. Many of those children were ultimately adopted by Polish families who had sheltered them.

SPEAKER_04 37:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Or the emigrated to Israel or other countries in the following years.

SPEAKER_04 37:09

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Irina continued to keep in touch with many of them. They were, in a sense, all of her children now. In the years after the war, those who had been rescued would often visit her, send letters, and regard her with deep affection, even calling her mother or aunt Irina. Sure. Poland emerged from World War II only to fall under a new form of oppression. Yeah. Soviet-backed communist rule. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the communist regime in Poland was not interested in celebrating members of the wartime Polish underground like Zagoda.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Unless they were communists themselves. Sure. Arena had been associated with the Polish Socialist Party and Democratic Youth Groups, not communist partisans. So in the eyes of the new authority, she was at best viewed with suspicion.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

Oh, of course.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

She actually did continue her humanitarian work in Poland. She worked in social welfare for decades, helping orphans, the elderly, um, even assisting war prostitutes to rehabilitate. But official recognition for her wartime deeds were was largely suppressed.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

The communist government did give her a medal in 1946, the gold cross of merit for her war efforts in saving Jews, perhaps as a brief token gesture.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

And like just the immediate aftermath. However, after that, her story basically vanished from public view. Sure. So the communist regime controlled the narrative of the wartime history.

SPEAKER_04 38:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

They emphasized the glory of communist partisans and Soviet liberators. Oh boy. Not independent initiatives like Zagoda.

SPEAKER_04 38:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Also, anti-Jewish sentiment sadly persisted in Poland after the war.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Well, I mean, it's not just going to be erased, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

But the 1960s, there was an open anti-Semitic campaign in Poland during which Irina found herself under an even bigger cloud of distrust. Oh boy. In 1967, she was fired from her job out of school. Due to downsizing sixty seven, you said? Mm-hmm. Wow. Due to downsizing, but probably not.

SPEAKER_03 39:25

Prejudice, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Yeah. She later said the events of 1968, when the regime expelled thousands of remaining Jews from the country, left her deeply traumatized and disappointed. Sure. After the war, Arena was seen as politically suspicious by Poland's new communist regime. Her work with the Zagoda, which had ties to the non communist government in exile, made her a target. Yep. The secret police harassed her, labeled her an enemy of the state, and kept her underwatch. Jesus Christ. Her daughter was even quietly removed from the university, except The the Warsaw University acceptance list, likely because of Irina's reputation. That's too bad. However, I read somewhere else as well that her daughter reported personally that she had simply failed to satisfy the admission requirements.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

Maybe she was just being nice to Ma. Who knows? Maybe. Hard to say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

So her story didn't fit the official narrative. So Poland essentially erased her from public memory for nearly 50 years. Wow. While Oskar Schindler became famous, Irina's rescue of 2,500 children remained mostly unknown. She didn't seek attention. She didn't write a memoir. She didn't promote herself. She just kept working and raised her own three kids. She didn't write a screenplay. No.

SPEAKER_03 40:47

Not saying Schindler did, but.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

In Poland, no one knew her name. Zagoda's story was barely acknowledged. The whole part of history sat buried until three teenagers in Kansas dug it up.

SPEAKER_03 41:02

How'd they dug it up? Let's find out.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

In 1999, in a small town in Kansas, a high school teacher named Norman Conard gave his students a short clipping from a 1994 U.S. News and World Report article titled The Other Schindlers, which mentioned a one-line fact. A Polish woman named Irina Sendler has saved 2,500 children from the War Salghetto.

SPEAKER_04 41:31

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

The teacher and students were a little skeptical, like 2,500, clearly that's a typo. Must have been 250. Sure. Um, I mean, Schindler was famous for over a thousand. You know, 2500, that seems seems a huge number. Yeah. So intrigued, three students, Megan, Elizabeth, and Sabrina, decided to research Arena for a history project. Okay. At first they found really sparse information. They dug deeper, reaching out to archives, organizations, and they discovered not only was it a true story, but Irene Sandler was still alive.

SPEAKER_03 42:13

In 1999? Wow, so she would have been 89.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

89 years old. Retired social worker living in a modest apartment in Warsaw.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

Oh, so she was still there. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

The students wrote to her, and Irina, with the help of a translator, wrote back.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

The Kansas girls asked her, how did she, a young woman not much older than they were, find the courage to do what she did? In response, Irina repeated the lesson her father gave her so many years before. Quote, My parents taught me that if a man is drowning, it is irrelevant what is his religion or nationality. One must help him.

SPEAKER_04 42:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

So as the students pieced together Irina's life, they decided to turn it into a sh uh like a short play. Sure. And they called it Life in a Jar.

SPEAKER_04 43:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Um the play was a simple 10-minute performance. Um, but these American teens told the story of Arena's pursuing, uh, excuse me, persuading parents, smuggling children in sex, burying the names in jars.

SPEAKER_02 43:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

They even had a line in the play quoting Irina's father about the drowning man, and Irina's own quote that she wasn't a hero, which she had said many, many times throughout her life. She's no hero.

SPEAKER_03 43:25

Well, most actual heroes are gonna say they're not heroes. And you know, she was a fucking hero.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

They first performed at a state competition where they won.

SPEAKER_03 43:34

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

They even performed it at National History Day in Washington, D.C., and it's starting getting some attention. Oh. News of the Kansas Students Project filtered back to Poland, and in 2001, the students actually traveled to meet Irina Sendler in person.

SPEAKER_03 43:49

Oh, she's still alive in 2001. Good for her. Good on her.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

By this time, Irina was in her 90s and in fragile health. But when these young girls flew across the ocean, um, and they performed life in a jar for her, she was deeply moved. I'm sure. The Polish media took note of this event. American school kids rediscovering a Polish heroine from Poland itself had largely forgotten.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

Or buried.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:15

I mean, really.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

This sparked a wider interest in Irvina's story with Poland. Um, other hidden rescuers started coming out with their tales.

SPEAKER_04 44:24

Oh, that's nice.

SPEAKER_01 44:24

Yeah. So from 2001 onward, Irina Sandler's name became to rise out of obscurity. She received Poland's highest honors. In 2003, she was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's greatest civilian decoration in a public ceremony.

SPEAKER_04 44:42

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

In 2007, now in her late 90s. Jesus Christ. Irina was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize with a group of Polish and Israeli lawmakers putting her name forward. That's fantastic. She did not win.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

That's okay, though.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Um, Al Gore actually won that year.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

I know. For that dumb fucking movie that's not even real. God damn it.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

She was made an honorary citizen of Israel and of Warsaw and was honored by institutions around the world.

SPEAKER_03 45:13

I'm sorry. How the fuck did Al Gore beat fucking Irena? That is a fucking travesty of fucking epic proportions. Seriously.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

That shouldn't have been part of my research. It shouldn't have been because I honestly thought you were gonna ask me who did win that year, so I looked it up.

SPEAKER_03 45:32

No, you you should have skipped it because that it would have made me less angry. Because I'm sorry. His shit is bullshit. Look it up, believe what you want to believe. I don't care. This is my opinion, Bradley's opinion. Fuck that guy. And the shit that he spewed out that everyone ate up when he beat her. Fuck that.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 45:55

So the Kansas students I just want to say that's Kay's way of railing Brad like reigning Bradley. So okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

The Kansas student students continue to perform Life in Out Jar hundreds of times around US, Canada, and Poland. Nice. A book was written about their journey and a Hallmark movie, The Courageous Heart of Irina Sendler aired in 2009. I fucking hate the Hallmark Channel. Anna Packin starred as Irina Sendler. I like Anna Packwin. A documentary um documentary.

SPEAKER_03 46:26

I was gonna say what?

SPEAKER_01 46:27

A documentary followed, and schools and streets in Poland were named after her. Nice. And her final years, Irina Sendler was honored around the world, but she always made it clear that she didn't do it alone.

SPEAKER_03 46:41

No, of course she didn't, but she was integral to the the the savior of 2,500 children. I mean, that's I mean, yeah, you clearly did not do it alone, but you were the architect of most of this stuff, honestly. So I mean, I understand she's trying to be humble, and that's fucking great. Kneel before God, Indiana Jones. You wouldn't get it. But um she clearly was a huge part to this, and she there's so many children that um lived because of her. And yeah, their family died, and that obviously fucking sucks. But still, fuck Al Gore.

SPEAKER_01 47:23

She accredited her team of volunteers, the Polish families who hid children, the nuns who took them in, and the parents who made the impossible decision to let their kids go. Right. Later in life, she said the honors felt bittersweet because her co-workers were gone and the world had only learned their story because a group of American high schoolers dug it up.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

That's I mean, still, that's fantastic, though.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

She died in 2008 at 98 years old.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

She just died. I was gonna I was just gonna ask, and I was waiting for you to say because I figured you would. I was hoping she made it to 100.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

Some of the children she rescued attended her funeral, now elderly themselves.

SPEAKER_03 48:02

Well, yeah, obviously. Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

The world, she said in her 90s, is still in a sea of blood. Yep. But it can be better if there's love, tolerance, and humility. And if she could tell us anything now, it might be this. You don't have to be a hero, just jump in and help the drowning person.

SPEAKER_03 48:23

And she's so right. And I wish there was more people like Irina. Like, if if I saw somebody in need, I would do the the best I can to help. I don't know what resources I could provide them or whatever it might be, but there's so many people that just blinders. Yeah. Phone. Ooh, I gotta like. And don't get me wrong, like, yeah, we like when people like our stuff. But there's people that just obsess about it. And it's just so fucking infuriating because it's like, look around, go to nature. I don't know, help somebody out. Go to a soup kitchen and help out, or whatever the fuck it might be. I don't fucking know. I could do better. I know that. I try and help people out where I can though. But either way, gotta help yourself first.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

I went to the BP near my house on Christmas Eve to get some chips. And the person who was working, I see her all the time there. Sure. Um, but I gave her ten dollars and she's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I said, and I just put it in front of her and I was just like, Thanks for working today. And I just left. She's like, I heard her like that's so sweet. I was like, but I I know what it was like to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and it's it's not a good time. It sucks. That's when you should be with family, and that's when you should be, you know, thinking of others.

SPEAKER_03 49:50

And so once we've wrapped this up, I work Christmas Eve, I'll look for my ten dollars.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

You did work Christmas Eve, I know.

SPEAKER_03 50:00

I barely worked, I worked an hour and a half. It's not I'm just obviously joking. But no, I I applaud the people who have jobs where unfortunately they have to work them in those situations. I used, you know, I've not compared I never had to work. Well no, I I had to work Christmas Eve. It was always pretty light, whatever. But like Christmas Day, I never had to work. Day after Thanksgiving, I always had to work. This is the first job I've had where I haven't had to work that. So all the people that have to work in that shitty schedule, but that's what the job is, good on you.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

Um someday you probably won't have to.

SPEAKER_03 50:39

Someday, hopefully you won't have to. Um, otherwise, and I'm sure there's some people that actually don't mind it. There's always those people, but you know, I mean, thank you for what you do. Honestly, really. You're no Irena. I'm just kidding. No, I mean what she did was pretty, pretty fucking fantastic. So we can't really like take that away from her. But no, the people that do what they have to do, good on them because you know what you have to do and you're doing it.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

So absolutely. Well, I suppose.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

All right, buffoons. That's it for today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time. Feeling hungry for more buffoonery? Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

SPEAKER_03 51:29

Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube, X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also email us at History Buffoons Podcast at gmail.com. We are Bradley and Kate, music by Corey Akers.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the loop.

SPEAKER_03 51:48

Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us.

SPEAKER_01 51:52

Remember, the buffoonery never stops.