Awards, Honours

Irena Sendler said that every saved life of a Jewish child was an excuse for her existence. Then she added that she dedicated this Order to her co-workers and the victims of the Holocaust. Irena Sendler has got a lot of awards for her courage and dedication during World War II. She was given her first honour by the Israeli Institute Yad Vashem:the Righteous Among the Nations. It was in 1965. Yad Vashem gave Irena a medal with a sentence from the Talmud: "Who is saving one life, is saving the whole world". In 2003 she got an Order of the White Eagle which is Poland's highest decoration awarded to both civilians and military for their merits. At the end of 2007, thanks to Polish president, Lech Kaczyński, Norman Conrad,American history teacher and the premier of Israel, Ehudem Olmertem, she was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2008 thanks to the president of Poland she was a nominee one more time. Mrs Sendler got also the Order of Smile,an international award given to adults distinguished for their love, care and aid to children. Irena Sendler was pleasantly suprised because of that. She said that this medal was the most important distinction after a letter from Pope John Paul II and the title of the Righteous Among The Nations.