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Anderson County High Auditorium in Garnett
Life in a Jar will present at Anderson County Auditorium in Garnett, Kansas on Thursday night, March...
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Prague-Czech Republic
The students of Krystyna Klusonova will present Life in a Jar on Saturday, March 17th in the Czech...
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TBA
These dates are blocked out for national travel and events.
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Prague-Czech Republic-Homeschooling Academy, CB Soukenická 15, Prague 1, 110 00
The students of Krystyna Klusonova will present Life in a Jar on Saturday, March 24th in the Czech...
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Jewish Community Center of Mercer Island, WA
Life in a Jar will perform in the Seattle, WA area on Sunday night at 7PM. The program will be to...
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Mercer Island, WA
Life in a Jar will perform to the students of Northwest Yeshiva High School, the Seattle Hebrew Academy...
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5015 Harding Road in Nashville-The Temple
Life in a Jar will perform on Sunday, April 15th, 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee. The performance will...
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2820 W 76 Country Blvd in Branson
Norm Conard will present at the Newbees Book Club (associated with the Kimberling Area Library) the...
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News article - 2/3/2012
The following article was published last week by Lawrence Haas.
During the Holocaust, this Catholic social worker saved 2,500 Jewish children from certain death by convincing their parents, who were trapped in the Warsaw ghetto, to let her smuggle their kids to gentile families on the outside.
She risked her life every day for months, sneaking the kids out of the ghetto by, for instance, hiding them in ambulances and trucks. She was finally caught and tortured by the Nazis, escaping the firing squad only because her colleagues on the outside paid an extraordinary bribe to let her flee at the last minute.
Now, here’s the kicker:
If you’ve heard of Sendler, it’s likely because of an extraordinary high school history teacher – Norm Conard – in a small town in southeastern Kansas and three of his students who worked on a project about her for National History Day in 2000.
Sendler’s story, the students’ story, and the link between the two are told in an inspiring book, Life in a Jar, that I read only because my wife’s friend recommended it to her and she passed it on to me.
I’m grateful that she did.
The story begins at Uniontown High School in late 1999 when Liz Cambers, 14, was thumbing through a file of news clips to find an idea for the National History Day project when she noticed a U.S. News and World Report from 1994, “The Other Schindlers,” that summarized Sendler’s story in a few paragraphs. Intrigued, she chose Sendler for the project and found two other students – one 14, one 16 – to help.
For months, they researched Sendler’s story relentlessly, spending hours on the phone and in libraries across Kansas and creating a play that they called “Life in a Jar.” That’s because Sendler, who wanted to make sure the children’s Jewish names were not lost to history, wrote them on slips of paper and, with each rescue, inserted the paper into a jar that she buried near an apple tree.
After a dress rehearsal of the play in the high school gym that brought its audience to its feet, they won first prize at the district competition in Columbus, KS. Then, while revising and rehearsing the play in early 2000 as they prepared for the state competition – which they also won – they learned from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous in New York that Sendler was alive; she was 90 and lived in Warsaw.
They wrote to her, and she wrote back (in Polish) – beginning her letter with the words, “My dear and beloved girls, very close to my heart.” From her letter, the students learned that the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem namedSendler a “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1965; a tree was planted in her name in Israel in 1983; and Israel made her an honorary citizen in 1985. None of that brought her much notoriety back home, however. It was the three students – all Protestants, by the way – who would do that.
They didn’t win the National History Day competition in Washington, but by now the play was much bigger than a history project. They performed it for Holocaust survivors at the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous and for synagogues, churches, schools, and civic clubs across the Midwest. Newspapers began to write about the students and their play, and they soon recruited a manager to handle their travels.
As audiences stood to applaud, many of them weeping, Conard would ask audience members what had moved them to such emotion. One said, “Protestant girls from rural Kansas, rescuing the story of a Catholic social worker from Poland who rescued Jewish children from the Nazis. It gives me hope.”
One night, a businessman who saw the play invited the girls to dinner, learned that they were trying to raise money to visit Sendler, and, two days later, called to tell them that he had raised the money for them.
Arriving for what would be the first of several trips to Poland, the girls became celebrities in this foreign land, appearing on CNN and Polish and European TV; sitting for interviews with international and Polish newspapers; visiting Auschwitz, Treblinka, the former ghetto, and other historic sites; and performing the play for Holocaust survivors, rescuers, and others. On this trip and later ones, they had several moving visits with Sendler before she died in 2008 at the age of 98.
What, in the end, had these girls and their inspiring teacher accomplished?
Consider this: When they began their research, they could find just one internet reference to Sendler, from YadVashem. Since then, according to the March 2011 edition of the book Life in a Jar:
• The website www.irenasendler.org has received 25 million hits;
• Sendler has been honored by numerous major organizations across the world;
• Poland’s President bestowed the nation’s highest honor, The Order of the White Eagle, on her in 2002;
• Israel’s Prime Minister and Poland’s President nominated her for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007;
• The Hallmark Hall of Fame produced a 2009 film, “The Courageous Heart of Irena Sender,” that was shown across the United States on CBS; and
• The National Bank of Poland minted a coin in late 2009 with images of Sendler and two other brave women with whom she worked during the Holocaust.
“History is not history,” the chancellor of Purdue University-Calumet, Howard Cohen, said at one showing of the play, “until it is written or told."
Three high school girls in a remote part of Kansas told history and, in so doing, made history as well.
Lawrence J. Haas was Communications Director and Press Secretary for Vice President Al Gore. He writes widely about foreign and domestic affairs.
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70 years-Israeli Defense Forces-Life in a Jar Indiana - 1/20/2012
On January, 20, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler's second in command of the SS, convened the Wannsee Conference in Berlin with 15 top Nazi bureaucrats to coordinate the Final Solution (Endlösung) in which the Nazis would attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe, an estimated 11 million persons - On the 70th remembrance--Never Forget Irena Sendler and her network had already started the rescue operations in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Here is a beautiful note from Israel: Dear Life in a Jar; Thousands of grandsons and granddaughters of hundreds of saved children will be forever thankful! May you rest in peace, dear friend, Irena Sendler.
With love, soldiers from
Teleprocessing Branch,
C4I Corps - Israel Defense Forces
Here is a clipping about the collaboration between McCutcheon High School in Lafayette, IN and the Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott, KS as part of Northwest Indiana’s Books to Bridge the Region program. A big salute to teacher Stella Schafer and her students.
http://webs.purduecal.edu/news/2011/11/28/holocaust-hero/ |
Baby and the Silver Spoon - 1/5/2012
"Seventy years ago today a baby was born in the Warsaw Ghetto. Her parents commemorated her birth by engraving a silver spoon with her birthdate - 5 January 1942 - and her name - Elzbieta. Irena Sendler rescued Elzbieta 5 months later, just before the liquidation of the ghetto, by smuggling her out in a carpenter's box. In that box, along with their baby, her parents put the silver spoon, which, to this day, is the only physical remains of her family. Elzbieta grew to become an important civic leader in Poland, she befriended the Life in a Jar Kansas students who rescued Irena Sendler's story, and continued to care for her rescuer, Irena Sendler, until Irena died in 2008. Happy Birthday, Elzbieta!" author-Jack Mayer
Happy Birthday, Elzbieta, from the Life in a Jar and Irena Sendler Project family. |
Life in a Jar presentations - 11/8/2011
What a wonderful audience in Orange, CT, as we shared Life in a Jar and Irena Sendler's story of courage and valor with Congregation Or Shalom. Rabbi Alvin Wainhaus and his congregation were great hosts and a large crowd was present, as Norm Conard spoke on Unsung Heroes, Life in a Jar, the Irena Sendler Project. A thanks to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and State Representative, Paul Davis, for their involvement. Plus, we thank the State General Assembly of Connecticut for their resolution on our behalf. Fern Tausig did an excellent job of organizing the event. This was Or Shalom's 5th annual commemoration of Kristallnacht and the largest crowd yet. This event is a testimony to the power of one person to change the world. We salute this congregation's statement of Tikkun Olam.
Irena's story and the Life in a Jar book will be featured in a panel on Wednesday night, November 9th, at 6:30PM, at the 60th Annual Detroit Jewish Book Fair in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The JCC hosts the oldest and largest book fair in the nation. The panel will include; child survivor - Rene Lichtman, author - Jack Mayer, Life in a Jar Foundation Director - Norm Conard and child survivor saved by Irena Sender - Renata Zajdman. We are looking forward to a powerful evening.
The 299th presentation of Life in a Jar will be presented in La Jolla, CA this Sunday afternoon, November 13th. Life in a Jar will present at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla. Presentation time is 3:30PM. Contact person is: Marcia Wollner, marcia@ajesd.org, at 858.268.9200-ext.123. The Life in a Jar performers are directed by founders, Megan Felt and Jessica Ripper. These young people are still committed to making a difference in the world. |
Performances, Irena & Kristallnacht - 11/2/2011
Norm Conard will present in Orange, CT this Sunday at the Kristallnacht commemoration.
The Life in a Jar/Irena Sendler Project book will be featured at the Detroit Jewish Book Fair on Wednesday, November 9th.
Life in a Jar's 299th performance will be in La Jolla on Sunday, November 13th.
The 300th performance of Life in a Jar will be in Lebanon, MO on Sunday, December 4th.
Note: In November of 1938, Irena Sendler was very saddened to hear about Kristallnacht. She was already working in the social welfare department of Warsaw and saw many of her Jewish clients go without basic needs. She also was back in the University of Warsaw, finishing her degree. She had been expelled several years earlier for comments made in support of her Jewish friends.
**This information and information on our website: www.irenasendler.org, comes from interviews with Irena (over ten) and hundreds of primary interviews, many set up by Irena.
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Governor-Book-Otwock,Poland - 10/7/2011
Kansas book festival and Governor's reception
Last Saturday was the 2011 Kansas Book Festival at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka. Attendees of the event could meet with authors, participate in panel discussions, go to book signings, and participate in projects for children. Author Jack Mayer was present, his writing of Life in a Jar/the Irena Sendler Project was recognized with a Kansas medal. “I’m very pleased,” Kansas First Lady Mary Brownback said. “It’s a beautiful day, it’s gone very smoothly.” Joanne Budler, state librarian, and Roy Bird, director of the Kansas Center for the Book, honored 15 fiction, nonfiction, and children’s book authors with a medal for the literary contributions.
Barnes and Noble autograph signing on Saturday, October 8th, from 2-4PM
There will be a Life in a Jar/Irena Sendler Project book signing at Barnes and Noble, Oak Park Mall, on Saturday, October 8th. Several of the cast and original members of the project will be present. The book will be featured at the national Jewish Book Fair in Detroit during the first week of November.
Otwock, Poland
We thought you might want to see the town where Irena Sendler grew up. Also, where her father had his children's hospital. There were also orphanages in the town which were used during the World War II time period. This website is about the Otwock Children's Home where child survivor Mel Goldberg was as a child. We had the privilege to go with him on his return to Warsaw and this site.
Look forward for more specific information on Irena's childhood. |
Barnes & Noble, Toronto, the Governor and Author Jack - 9/22/2011
Barnes and Noble at the Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas will hold a book signing for Life in a Jar/the Irena Sendler Project. The signing will be on Saturday, October 8, from 2-4PM.
Here's a big thank you for the wonderful hospitality shown to Norm in Toronto. Rabbi and Goldie Plotkin, you have a marvelous congregation. Paul and Chips Klein, thanks for the opening of your home. Also, what a surprise and thrill to see some great friends; Michael Zajdman (son of child survivor and long-time friend of the project, Renata), Mel (child survivor) and Marilyn Goldberg, plus Lawrence and Lynn (longtime friends of Michael and Renata). What a beautiful evening of sharing in Canada!
Friday night, at the Governor's Mansion in Topeka, Kansas, the Life in a Jar book will be recognized. Also, on Saturday at the Museum of History in Topeka, the book and author Jack Mayer (see below) will be recognized with the Notable Book of Kansas award.
TOMORROW, September 23rd, is the 12th anniversary of the Life in a Jar project starting. We are starting our 13th year of sharing Irena's inspirational story. 40 students have been involved in the project, with the oldest now being 28.
Our 2007 U.S. Irena Sendler Award recipient sends more news on his Genocide conference in Rwanda, Africa.
JACK MAYER RECEIVES Public Citizen of the Year Award from the Vermont Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
He will be giving the keynote address at their annual conference on Friday September 23rd at Sugarbush, Vermont. The title of the address is "Irena Sendler: Profile in Courage"
Here is the criteria for the award.
Public Citizen of the Year
A community member who lives and works in Vermont and does not hold a social work degree.
Addresses social issues that support equal rights regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation or physical challenge.
Advocates and/or works with vulnerable and at risk populations.
Has made significant contributions to the lives of individuals, families, communities and the human services.
Advocates and contributes to the public’s awareness of social problems.
Demonstrates outstanding leadership and initiative through political and social action.
Demonstrates the highest standards of personal conduct and integrity and exhibits social work values and ethics. |
September 12, 2001 - 9/12/2011
Has it been ten years since we called Rabbi Taub at B'nai Jehudah in Overland Park, Kansas? We expected our performance on September 12, 2001 to be canceled because of the events the preceding day. The Rabbi said over the phone that the Life in a Jar play was needed now, more than ever. He had no idea how many would attend. 250 chairs were set up, but over 500 people arrived to standing room only. The applause after the play was sustained and emotional. A highlight of the evening was the comment/question and answer session, which was inspirational. This was the evening a number of people came into our lives, including Howard & Ro Jacobson, Bruce & Gayle Krigel, John & Jenny Isenberg, and Irv Robinson. |
Irena Sendler Award & Child Survivors Conference - 8/30/2011
The World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust 23rd annual conference was held in Warsaw, Poland this past week. Our good friend, Stephanie Seltzer, President of the Conference, and Rene Lichtman from Detroit (who has been a part of several projects with Life in a Jar) helped organize this powerful time. Norm Conard presented a panel and joined in activities. Also present at the conference was Renata Zajdman of Montreal, who earlier in the week received the Bene Merito award from the Government of Poland for 'good in the world.'
Also attending the conference was the Israeli Ambassador to Poland, Zvi Rav-Ner, the U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Lee Feinstein, the Mayor of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, and the assistant to the President of Poland. The President, Bronislaw Komorowski, sponsored a dinner on the first night. Long time friend of the program, Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, was involved in the conference and the Irena Sendler Award. Pitor Zettinger, of Sweden, was saved by Irena and also attended the conference.
Renata Zajdman and Elzbieta Ficowska, both saved by Irena, were involved in many events. Both are great friends of Life in a Jar & Irena Sendler Project.
The 5th recipient of the Irena Sendler Award was awarded on Thursday, August 18th, in the Palace of the Foreign Ministry. Grazyna Ferenc, was the winner of this years award. She is a history teacher in Katowice and extremely active in Holocaust education. The ceremony was organized by Elzbieta Ficowska and Iga Kazimierczyk, of the Center For Citizenship Education. The Children of the Holocaust Association also participated. Here is a photo of the winner and finalists.
Last, but not least, Elizabeth Cambers Hutton and her husband Graham had a baby girl on August 22nd. Lydia Michael Hutton weighed 8lbs 14oz and is the first child of Elizabeth and Graham. Elizabeth is the last of the four 'Sendlerowa girls' to be blessed with a child.
Attention: be watching for new information on the childhood of Irena Sendler. Research was done and is being done in Poland on her childhood family hometown of Otwock, Poland. |
Warsaw Conference and more - 8/15/2011
Norm will be speaking at the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust, the 23rd International Conference in Warsaw, Poland this week. On Sunday he will present on a panel dealing with Teaching the Holocaust in the classroom. He also will be sharing the stories of unsung heroes and the powerful Life in a Jar/the Irena Sendler Project.
A highlight of the week in Warsaw will be an afternoon tour on August 18th to the town of Otwock. Otwock was the town where Irena Sendler grew up and it has an orphanage where she hid children during the Holocaust. Norm will be visiting the town and orphanage with Renata Zajdman, Elzbieta Ficowska (both saved by Irena) and Dr. Mel Goldberg, who is a child survivor. We believe this is the first visit back for Dr. Goldberg. Powerful!!
The latest issue of Visions magazine has a great story on Irena Sendler and the kids from Kansas.
Our 2011 Irena Sendler Award winner from the U.S., Lee Holder of North Carolina, recently traveled to Poland and met Anna Kloza, the 2008 Irena Sendler Award winner from Poland. Lee is active in writing lesson plans on the Holocaust.
The Life in a Jar family spent Sunday afternoon at the home of our wonderful friends, Bruce and Gayle Krigel of Kansas City. The Krigels host the students and families each year and everyone has a beautiful time. Good friends, Howard and Ro Jacobson, John and Jenny Isenberg, Merilyn Berenbom and others were present to experience a time of relaxation and the sharing of projects, including the latest on the Irena Sendler project. The names listed above have been with the project for a decade. |
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