What's In A Name

In Nazi-occupied Warsaw, paperwork could be lethal. This episode examines how Polish social worker Irina Sendler used her prewar networks, forged papers, and coded records to move Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and place them in convents, orphanages, and private homes. We trace the logistics of rescue—routes, aliases, placements, and secret ledgers—her 1943 arrest and torture, her refusal to betray the children or colleagues, and the careful, tragic balance between hiding identities and preserving the chance of reunion. The episode also explores the widely repeated figure of “about 2,500” rescues, the limits of verification under clandestine conditions, and how Sendler’s legacy moved from archival recognition to public memory in later decades.