Irena Sendler — credited with saving some 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazi Holocaust by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, some of them in baskets — died Monday, her family said. She was 98.
Sendler, among the first to be honored by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial as a Righteous Among Nations for her wartime heroism, died at a Warsaw hospital, daughter Janina Zgrzembska told The Associated Press.
President Lech Kaczynski expressed "great regret" over Sendler's death, calling her "extremely brave" and "an exceptional person." In recent years, Kaczynski had spearheaded a campaign to put Sendler's name forward as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sendler was a 29-year-old social worker with the city's welfare department when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, launching World War II. Warsaw's Jews were forced into a walled-off ghetto.
Seeking to save the ghetto's children, Sendler masterminded risky rescue operations. Under the pretext of inspecting sanitary conditions during a typhoid outbreak, she and her assistants ventured inside the ghetto — and smuggled out babies and small children in ambulances and in trams, sometimes wrapped up as packages.
Teenagers escaped by joining teams of workers forced to labor outside the ghetto. They were placed in families, orphanages, hospitals or convents.
Records show that Sendler's team of about 20 people saved nearly 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto between October 1940 and its final liquidation in April 1943, when the Nazis burned the ghetto, shooting the residents or sending them to death camps.
"Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this earth, and not a title to glory," Sendler said in 2007 in a letter to the Polish Senate after lawmakers honored her efforts in 2007.
In hopes of one day uniting the children with their families — most of whom perished in the Nazis' death camps — Sendler wrote the children's real names on slips of paper that she kept at home.
When German police came to arrest her in 1943, an assistant managed to hide the slips, which Sendler later buried in a jar under an apple tree in an associate's yard. Some 2,500 names were recorded.
"It took a true miracle to save a Jewish child," Elzbieta Ficowska, who was saved by Sendler's team as a baby in 1942, recalled in an AP interview in 2007. "Mrs. Sendler saved not only us, but also our children and grandchildren and the generations to come.
"
Anyone caught helping Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland risked being summarily shot, along with family members — a fate Sendler only barely escaped herself after the 1943 raid by the Gestapo.
The Nazis took her to the notorious Pawiak prison, which few people left alive. Gestapo agents tortured her repeatedly, leaving Sendler with scars on her body — but she refused to betray her team.
"I kept silent. I preferred to die than to reveal our activity," she was quoted as saying in Anna Mieszkowska's biography, "Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Story of Irena Sendler.
"
Zegota, an underground organization helping Jews, paid a bribe to German guards to free her from the prison. Under a different name, she continued her work.
After World War II, Sendler worked as a social welfare official and director of vocational schools, continuing to assist some of the children she rescued.
"A great person has died — a person with a great heart, with great organizational talents, a person who always stood on the side of the weak," Warsaw Ghetto survivor Marek Eldeman told TVN24 television.
In 1965, Sendler became one of the first so-called Righteous Gentiles honored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem for wartime heroics. Poland's communist leaders at that time would not allow her to travel to Israel; she collected the award in 1983.
Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said Sender's "courageous activities rescuing Jews during the Holocaust serve as a beacon of light to the world, inspiring hope and restoring faith in the innate goodness of mankind.
"
Despite the Yad Vashem honor, Sendler was largely forgotten in her homeland until recent years. She came to the world's attention in 2000 when a group of schoolgirls from Uniontown, Kan., wrote a short play about her called "Life in a Jar.
"
It went on to garner international attention, and has been performed more than 200 times in the United States, Canada and Poland.
Sendler, born Irena Krzyzanowska, said she lived according to her physician father's teachings, arguing that "people can be only divided into good or bad; their race, religion, nationality don't matter.
"
She married Mieczyslaw Sendler but they divorced after the war's end. Sendler then married fellow underground activist Stefan Zgrzembski, and they had two sons and a daughter. One died a few days after birth. The second son, Adam, died of a heart failure in 1999.
Sendler is survived by her daughter and a granddaughter.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Garden Party May 10th is on rain or shine...
it's not so much about the work in the garden for us. we just need a housefull of people around on what would have been Bobby's birthday. And if we get some work done outside....GREAT! come anytine from 10AM until late at night when we'll have bonfire in the firepit. those who need to know, know where it is :) love, Mimi
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
5 ways to help a grieving friend or family member
I copied this from the THE GARDEN A CENTER FOR GRIEVING CHIKLDREN & TEENS web site today. The kids & I have participated in this support group since January & it has been extremely helpful.
Five things to help a grieving friend
1. Acknowledge What Has Happened
Say something ("I am so sorry about your loss"), write something (a card or a note means a great deal), do something (a kind gesture or helpful deed is always welcome). (And I would add: please be sure that if you have offered to do something for the person or be with them in some capacity that you really follow through. This is not a time to say things that you can't follow through on. perhaps promise less? do more?)
2. Listen, Listen, Listen
Make time to be with the friend and listen to their thoughts and feelings. Don't ever assume that you know what they are going through. Just let them know that you are there for them to listen and care.
3. Accept the Other as He or She Is
Don't try to offer advice on how the person should act or feel. If the person seems different, remember that THEY ARE. Something big has happened to them.
4. Offer to Help, and Make Your Offers Specific
Don't just say, "I am here for you." Tell the person HOW you are here for them. Examples are: "I will get the homework assignments for you," or "I will check in on how you are doing everyday this week, ok?" or "I want to sit with you at lunch for awhile until you are feeling better."
5. Relate to the Other as a Whole Person
No one wants to be seen as a victim all the time. Remember that the person is more than what they have lost. To forget who the person is will not help their recovery. To forget that they have had a sad thing happen, will make them feel invisible. So try to keep both things in mind.
GRIEF IS A CONTINUAL PROCESS. WHAT MIGHT ASSIST YOU?
TALKING
GETTING INVOLVED IN SCHOOL AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
HAVING TIME ALONE CRYING
WRITING DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS
BEING WITH FRIENDS
EATING HUGGING SCREAMING PRAYING
HELPING OTHERS GETTING COUNSELING
JOINING A SUPPORT GROUP
EXERCISING
LISTENING TO MUSIC
DRAWING OR PAINTING
E-MAILING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five things to help a grieving friend
1. Acknowledge What Has Happened
Say something ("I am so sorry about your loss"), write something (a card or a note means a great deal), do something (a kind gesture or helpful deed is always welcome). (And I would add: please be sure that if you have offered to do something for the person or be with them in some capacity that you really follow through. This is not a time to say things that you can't follow through on. perhaps promise less? do more?)
2. Listen, Listen, Listen
Make time to be with the friend and listen to their thoughts and feelings. Don't ever assume that you know what they are going through. Just let them know that you are there for them to listen and care.
3. Accept the Other as He or She Is
Don't try to offer advice on how the person should act or feel. If the person seems different, remember that THEY ARE. Something big has happened to them.
4. Offer to Help, and Make Your Offers Specific
Don't just say, "I am here for you." Tell the person HOW you are here for them. Examples are: "I will get the homework assignments for you," or "I will check in on how you are doing everyday this week, ok?" or "I want to sit with you at lunch for awhile until you are feeling better."
5. Relate to the Other as a Whole Person
No one wants to be seen as a victim all the time. Remember that the person is more than what they have lost. To forget who the person is will not help their recovery. To forget that they have had a sad thing happen, will make them feel invisible. So try to keep both things in mind.
GRIEF IS A CONTINUAL PROCESS. WHAT MIGHT ASSIST YOU?
TALKING
GETTING INVOLVED IN SCHOOL AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
HAVING TIME ALONE CRYING
WRITING DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS
BEING WITH FRIENDS
EATING HUGGING SCREAMING PRAYING
HELPING OTHERS GETTING COUNSELING
JOINING A SUPPORT GROUP
EXERCISING
LISTENING TO MUSIC
DRAWING OR PAINTING
E-MAILING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
"Take Me There" by Mimi Caban now available on mp3
This is a song I wrote about 15 years ago that really fits where we are now. Bob Young of Emerald Vein, Tony Green on bass & Jeff Reid on keyboard revived this song last summer after Bobby passed away & helped me put this together.
Go to www.emeraldvein.com to purchase this song & other Emerald Vein music. More to come & please pass this on to your friends. Click on "Sounds" & scroll down near the bottom of the page & look for the little photo of Hadassah :) . Go to www.myspace.com/opensoaks or www.myspace/emeraldveinmusic to hear "Take Me There" in its entirely :)
THANKS FOR YOUR LOVE & SUPPORT!!!! Mimi Download "Take Me There" by Mimi Caban at
www.emeraldvein.com
www.opensoaks.net MimiBlog & Tributes to Bobby :)
Go to www.emeraldvein.com to purchase this song & other Emerald Vein music. More to come & please pass this on to your friends. Click on "Sounds" & scroll down near the bottom of the page & look for the little photo of Hadassah :) . Go to www.myspace.com/opensoaks or www.myspace/emeraldveinmusic to hear "Take Me There" in its entirely :)
THANKS FOR YOUR LOVE & SUPPORT!!!! Mimi Download "Take Me There" by Mimi Caban at
www.emeraldvein.com
www.opensoaks.net MimiBlog & Tributes to Bobby :)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
A Garden Party/Tribute to Bobby Invitation
You are invited to Square Foot Gardening Party: A New Start
Saturday May 10, 2008
Beginning at 10:00am
At the home of Mimi, Michael & Hadassah Caban
opensoaks@juno.com
Bobby was born on May 10, 1957. He would have been 51 years old this year. Anticipating that this day may be a difficult one for myself & the kids, I’ve decided to honor his life with something that will bring life continually: create a small garden in our yard.
I’ve chosen the square foot gardening method because it seems so incredibly easy (something Bobby would have loved!), it’s something Michael & Hadassah can participate in & something that can be added to as the seasons go by.
I once held a garden party in Milford MA to celebrate coming through some very difficult seasons of life. Folks came with plants & gardening tools & smiles & we dug & created something wonderful & lasting.
This time there’s no digging involved! BUT I would love you all to come & pitch in. I especially need a few folks with a little more experience than me (none) in building a 4 X 4 frame for each garden section. Two at the most.
This is the list of specific items we will need on May 10th:
food to share for cooking out
drinks
tables & chairs for out side
wood: 8 pieces of 4 foot 2 X 6 inch boards
12 pieces of 6 foot wood lath boards
weed cloth: 2 pieces a bit larger than a 4 foot by 4 foot area
wood screws
a power drill to borrow
large coarse thread deck crews
6 cubic feet compost made of 5 different types of compost: we can mix it here
6 cubic feet of peat moss
6 cubic feet of vermiculite
your hammer
seeds & plants: I prefer organic NON GMO of veggies, flowers, herbs & things that attract butterflies. A different type of seed or plant will be grown in each square foot section of the gardens. There will be 32 sections total if we build 2 frames. Enough for our family to enjoy & for Michael to set up a little roadside farmstand to sell flowers, tomatoes, herbs etc :)
garden gloves
because this is such a specific list, I will need to know what you are bringing if anything so I can check it off of my list :) Thanks! I really hope those of you who read this can come :) Mimi
Saturday May 10, 2008
Beginning at 10:00am
At the home of Mimi, Michael & Hadassah Caban
opensoaks@juno.com
Bobby was born on May 10, 1957. He would have been 51 years old this year. Anticipating that this day may be a difficult one for myself & the kids, I’ve decided to honor his life with something that will bring life continually: create a small garden in our yard.
I’ve chosen the square foot gardening method because it seems so incredibly easy (something Bobby would have loved!), it’s something Michael & Hadassah can participate in & something that can be added to as the seasons go by.
I once held a garden party in Milford MA to celebrate coming through some very difficult seasons of life. Folks came with plants & gardening tools & smiles & we dug & created something wonderful & lasting.
This time there’s no digging involved! BUT I would love you all to come & pitch in. I especially need a few folks with a little more experience than me (none) in building a 4 X 4 frame for each garden section. Two at the most.
This is the list of specific items we will need on May 10th:
food to share for cooking out
drinks
tables & chairs for out side
wood: 8 pieces of 4 foot 2 X 6 inch boards
12 pieces of 6 foot wood lath boards
weed cloth: 2 pieces a bit larger than a 4 foot by 4 foot area
wood screws
a power drill to borrow
large coarse thread deck crews
6 cubic feet compost made of 5 different types of compost: we can mix it here
6 cubic feet of peat moss
6 cubic feet of vermiculite
your hammer
seeds & plants: I prefer organic NON GMO of veggies, flowers, herbs & things that attract butterflies. A different type of seed or plant will be grown in each square foot section of the gardens. There will be 32 sections total if we build 2 frames. Enough for our family to enjoy & for Michael to set up a little roadside farmstand to sell flowers, tomatoes, herbs etc :)
garden gloves
because this is such a specific list, I will need to know what you are bringing if anything so I can check it off of my list :) Thanks! I really hope those of you who read this can come :) Mimi
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Home again & other exciting news....
hello everyone: i am actually typing this from my home in huntington :) the kids & i arrived around midnight last night. the first sound i heard when i openeed the van door was the sound of our river across the street. what a joyful sound. it made me happy.
my beautiful housesitter & her doggies were here & i got to say goodbye to them this morning. what a gift from God she is to me.
dad is well on his way to feeling great! as far as i know he attended the opera "Aida" in pittsburgh friday night. my sister & her dance company performed in it as well. AMAZING! i was able to take Hadassah to the dress rehearsal for free (TIX are normally close to $200 each) Hadassah was also able to attend a Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre rehearsal & meet a world famous photographer whose husband just happens to be a film director who is making the movie "The Road" with Vigo Mortensen & Charlize Theron in Pittsburgh.
my van cost about $1000 over the past 10 days but now everything from the front brakes to the alternator (which blew out last friday on our way across pennsylvania!) to the front tires & other things have been replaced or fixed.
i had a very fruitful time in east stroudsburg PA on friday - monday with bob & susan young who love michael & hadassah like their own kids. bob & i finished the recording for my sampler CD, rehearsed for our upcoming Emerald Vein www.emeraldvein.com concert May 17th in Stroudsburg PA at the Shawnee Playhouse. I sang & ministered at a local coffee house friday night & then sang & taught at their new worship & arts gathering "The Alabaster Box" on saturday night. if you're a soaker & live within 5 hours of them, COME! I will be going down there on a regular basis to come alongside of what God is doing there at the AB. every saturday night at 7PM. no agenda other than to seek & worship God & release His kingdom love & creativity....everywhere. all the time.
I can see blue skies....nothing but blue skies (as irving king sang over me many years ago :) & i feel a sense of hope today.
i am so grateful for the time to be with my father & family during his surgeries & afterward. I have peace that he is going to continue to do well & regain strength (and weight :). the time with him, my mom & stepdad, sister, brother, "sister" & nephews & niece was a gift to me. as well as the time with Pastor Phil & Lois Roland & old friends at the Sheepfold in Sharon, PA who held a beautiful seder on the night that would have been Jesus' last meal with his friends before He was crucified. It was living water for my soul.
CD PROJECT: the last things I need to do are to create the cover & cd label & then have 500 copies made. This cd is a sampler & a thank you note to the many people who have loved us over the past 9 months. as well as something that i will sell wherever i sing, teach, minister. If you would like to contribute financially or creatively to help complete this project let me know.
EMERALD VEIN CONCERT: May 17th 8PM Shawnee Playhouse Stroudsburg PA This concert will be "...in praise and wonder of the Great Architect of the Universe" & will be a reunion of EV band members Bob Young, bassist Tony Green & myself as well as Susan Young (vocalist & dancer) & the Young children (think Libera) Jeff Reid & others (maybe Hadassah will grace us with her presence too!). This will be a lush sonic, visual & spiritual experience for your eyes & ears & heart. Tickets are $12 each. Families of 3 or more will pay a total of $25. The theatre seats only 200 people & we hope it will fill up. This is the first time we have all been together since about 1992??? We will be playing some of the original Emerald Vein music as as well several of my original songs & other new music. I am so excited about this event. (It's also one week after Bobby's birthday. Somehow that is significant to me.) I hope you can ALL be there. Stroudsburg is right new the PA/NJ border & only a 3 hour drive for me from Huntington. It's near the Poconos & a very nice area for bed & breakfasts & other touristy things as well as a large train museum area!
www.emeraldvein.com new web site with a few songs posted as of right now......
let me know you're alive & well if i haven't been in touch for awhile...i love you all with an everlasting love, mimi
my beautiful housesitter & her doggies were here & i got to say goodbye to them this morning. what a gift from God she is to me.
dad is well on his way to feeling great! as far as i know he attended the opera "Aida" in pittsburgh friday night. my sister & her dance company performed in it as well. AMAZING! i was able to take Hadassah to the dress rehearsal for free (TIX are normally close to $200 each) Hadassah was also able to attend a Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre rehearsal & meet a world famous photographer whose husband just happens to be a film director who is making the movie "The Road" with Vigo Mortensen & Charlize Theron in Pittsburgh.
my van cost about $1000 over the past 10 days but now everything from the front brakes to the alternator (which blew out last friday on our way across pennsylvania!) to the front tires & other things have been replaced or fixed.
i had a very fruitful time in east stroudsburg PA on friday - monday with bob & susan young who love michael & hadassah like their own kids. bob & i finished the recording for my sampler CD, rehearsed for our upcoming Emerald Vein www.emeraldvein.com concert May 17th in Stroudsburg PA at the Shawnee Playhouse. I sang & ministered at a local coffee house friday night & then sang & taught at their new worship & arts gathering "The Alabaster Box" on saturday night. if you're a soaker & live within 5 hours of them, COME! I will be going down there on a regular basis to come alongside of what God is doing there at the AB. every saturday night at 7PM. no agenda other than to seek & worship God & release His kingdom love & creativity....everywhere. all the time.
I can see blue skies....nothing but blue skies (as irving king sang over me many years ago :) & i feel a sense of hope today.
i am so grateful for the time to be with my father & family during his surgeries & afterward. I have peace that he is going to continue to do well & regain strength (and weight :). the time with him, my mom & stepdad, sister, brother, "sister" & nephews & niece was a gift to me. as well as the time with Pastor Phil & Lois Roland & old friends at the Sheepfold in Sharon, PA who held a beautiful seder on the night that would have been Jesus' last meal with his friends before He was crucified. It was living water for my soul.
CD PROJECT: the last things I need to do are to create the cover & cd label & then have 500 copies made. This cd is a sampler & a thank you note to the many people who have loved us over the past 9 months. as well as something that i will sell wherever i sing, teach, minister. If you would like to contribute financially or creatively to help complete this project let me know.
EMERALD VEIN CONCERT: May 17th 8PM Shawnee Playhouse Stroudsburg PA This concert will be "...in praise and wonder of the Great Architect of the Universe" & will be a reunion of EV band members Bob Young, bassist Tony Green & myself as well as Susan Young (vocalist & dancer) & the Young children (think Libera) Jeff Reid & others (maybe Hadassah will grace us with her presence too!). This will be a lush sonic, visual & spiritual experience for your eyes & ears & heart. Tickets are $12 each. Families of 3 or more will pay a total of $25. The theatre seats only 200 people & we hope it will fill up. This is the first time we have all been together since about 1992??? We will be playing some of the original Emerald Vein music as as well several of my original songs & other new music. I am so excited about this event. (It's also one week after Bobby's birthday. Somehow that is significant to me.) I hope you can ALL be there. Stroudsburg is right new the PA/NJ border & only a 3 hour drive for me from Huntington. It's near the Poconos & a very nice area for bed & breakfasts & other touristy things as well as a large train museum area!
www.emeraldvein.com new web site with a few songs posted as of right now......
let me know you're alive & well if i haven't been in touch for awhile...i love you all with an everlasting love, mimi
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