Life in a Jar Polish social worker's Holocaust heroism captures Governor's honor

Author: Grace Close

The heroic deeds of Polish Catholic social worker Irena Sendler are now cemented in history. During the Holocaust, Sendler rescued 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto and relocated them to non-Jewish family households to protect their safety. Once safe in the homes of their adopted families, Sendler compiled the original names of those children and their families, placed them in a jar, and buried them under an apple tree.

Like the jar, Irena Sendler's story was buried for years until a group of students from Kansas resurrected Sendler and her story. Now, Irena Sendler has been woven into Vermont history, following Gov. Jim Douglas' '72 announcement to name Oct. 17 "Irena Sendler Day" in Vermont.

From now on, this day will commemorate "the power of one person to make a difference," said Jack Mayer MD, a pediatrician at Rainbow Pediatrics in Middlebury. Mayer is intricately involved in the resurfacing of the Irena Sendler story from the depths of history.

Alongside his work as a pediatrician, Mayer is also historical fiction novelist - a job that he refers to as his "closet profession."

"I have always been interested in the whole concept of 'rescuers' and those unsung heroes and why people would put themselves at risk for the sake of others," explained Mayer.

After completing a novel about rescuers in France during the Second World War, Mayer turned to the Warsaw ghetto for the setting of his next novel. One day, Mayer discovered a copy of the Ladies' Home Journal that someone had placed on his desk, with the pages opened to a story about Irena Sendler and a group of high school students from Kansas.

The article informed Mayer that it was not until recently that the remarkable story of bravery and selflessness of Irena Sendler was made public, thanks to three Kansas high school students doing research on a project for National History Day. Megan Stewart, Elizabeth Cambers, and Sabrina Coons of Uniontown High School happened upon a biography of Sendler during their research. With support and inspiration from their history teacher, Norm Conard, the students pieced together Sendler's story and wrote a play called, "Life in a Jar," about the heroine. To this day Mayer does not know who put the article on his desk, since his office does not even carry the magazine.

In hopes of getting more information on Irena Sendler and a basis for a fictionalized story of the Warsaw ghetto, Mayer contacted Conard in Kansas, who, as it turns out, was looking for a writer to produce the biography of Irena Sendler.

"One year later, I was going on one of their [the Kansas students'] trips to Poland," said Mayer, who has since completed the biography manuscript and has been a part of the "Life in a Jar Project" ever since.

After hosting a talk on Irena Sendler and the "Life in a Jar Project" to the eighth grade at Mount Abraham High School in Bristol, Mayer was approached by two students, Kia Warren and Miranda Lucia, interested in learning more about Sendler's once untold story. The students, inspired by the Kansas students who had gotten the mayor of both Kansas City and Warsaw to declare an Irena Sendler Day, sought to bring Irena Sendler Day to green mountains of Vermont. Warren and Lucia, with the help of their teacher, Emily Beatty, soon petitioned Gov. Douglas '72 to declare the day of the Project's Vermont visit as Irena Sendler Day. The day serves as "as a way of calling state-wide attention to this remarkable woman and her philosophy," said Mayer.

"What to me, as a pediatrician, is so compelling and inspirational, is that these are young people who are acting as agents of history, not just students of history. They [the Kansas students] are actually making history by doing this and they've inspired other students, like those in Bristol, to the same thing," said Mayer of the effects of the Life in a Jar project.

The message of Irena Sendler and the emotional weight of her story are truly universal, touching everyone from Kansas to Vermont to Poland. Travis Stewart, one of the cast members of the "Life in a Jar" Vermont performances, remembered when he performed in Poland, in front of Holocaust survivors, many of whom did not speak English.

A copy of the script was translated into Polish for each of the attendees, yet, "no one in the room looked at the script," recounted Stewart, "We were able to perform without the need of language." Each survivor knew the impact of Sendler's story, since the emotion of this narrative crossed "through the language barrier."

Life in a Jar has evolved from a history project to a national and global effort to promote Irena Sendler's story, rescuing her from the depths of history, and elevating her to a Polish national hero. Although she passed away last May, Sendler has now been nominated by the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of Poland for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Irena Sendler was a blessing to us all," said Conard, "she would have been especially proud for these young people and their initiative."

"Tikkun Olam," meaning "to repair the world," is a Hebrew phrase that the members of the Project hope will resonate with Vermont's young people. Mayer suggested that that is the true heart of the Project, and the message that he hopes will be passed on.

"Tikkun olam, we're all capable of it," Mayer said.