Shaping the Memory of Irena Sendler in Polish Children’s Literature

The paper is an analysis of contemporary Polish children’s literature presenting Irena Sendler (1910–2008), a social worker who during World War II was one of the people helping Warsaw Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime. For her courageous actions in 1965 she was recognized as Righteous among the Nations by the State of Israel. Although her life was an inspiration for Renata Piątkowska’s All of My Mums (2013), the first Polish children’s biography of Sendler was published in 2018 (Anna Czerwińska-Rydel’s Lists in a Bottle: A Story about Irena Sendler). Later Ewa Nowak’s Kto uratował jedno życie… Historia Ireny Sendlerowej (Whosoever saved a single life… A Story about Irena Sendler) and Irena Sendlerowa: Magiczny koralik (Irena Sendler: A Magical Bead) by Beata Ostrowicka were published. The paper focuses on the presentation of Sendler in children’s literature in the context of the 21st century discussion about relations between Poles and Jews during the Holocaust. She became a symbol of courageous Polish people helping persecuted Jews in the time of the Shoah and children’s authors present her in this manner, in most cases resisting the critical approach, as it was presented e.g. by Anna Bikont in the recently published biography for adults Sendlerowa: W ukryciu (Sendler: In Hiding). The analysis shows how contemporary Polish children’s literature interferes with political and historical debates about the contentious issue of Polish-Jewish relations during World War II.