Never forget...

Von Rechenberg. Imagine living with that name! Well, I was thisclose to having it. My grandma on my dad's side came to America after WWII. I have a lot of German in me (including the stubbornness part, as Shane likes to remind me) and have always been proud of my heritage. Other people have pioneer ancestors....I have ancestors who lived in the middle of hell. I got an email today that, as I read, I thought there is no way it is true. I checked it out on Snopes.com and found out it IS real. I was shocked and appalled. Here is the story:

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena Sendler. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a nurse. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got
placed into foster family homes or adopted.

In 2007, Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize...
She was not selected.

Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

If you want to hear more of this courageous woman's story, click here.