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!