PRINTER'S NO. 2836
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
632
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY HELM, BOBACK, CALTAGIRONE, CHARLTON, D. COSTA,
DiGIROLAMO, DUSH, HENNESSEY, PHILLIPS-HILL, JAMES, LONGIETTI,
MILLARD, PICKETT, READSHAW, ROTHMAN, RYAN, SAMUELSON,
SCHWEYER, SONNEY, TOEPEL AND WARD, DECEMBER 21, 2017
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
DECEMBER 21, 2017
A RESOLUTION
Designating February 15, 2018, as "Irena Sendler Day" in
Pennsylvania in recognition of her bravery and humanitarian
efforts.
WHEREAS, Irena Sendler was a Catholic woman living in Warsaw,
Poland, during World War II; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Sendler helped save more than 2,500 Jewish
children from the Nazi death camps as the head of the children's
unit of Zegota, a Polish underground group established to assist
Jewish people in German-occupied Poland; and
WHEREAS, The children were spirited out of Warsaw to other
families, who hid them until the war's end; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Sendler and her colleagues would write each
child's name on a piece of tissue paper, place the paper in a
jar and bury it in a vacant lot, hoping to retrieve it after the
war and eventually reunite the children with their parents; and
WHEREAS, Unfortunately, most of the children's parents were
murdered at the Treblinka death camp; and
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WHEREAS, The penalty for anyone found assisting the Jewish
people in escaping or otherwise hiding from the Nazis was
torture and death; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Sendler and her helpers bravely went about their
task of saving as many children as possible because they felt
that was their higher calling; and
WHEREAS, After the war, even though she had saved so many
lives, Ms. Sendler was always haunted by the lives she was
unable to save; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Sendler was arrested on October 20, 1943, and
put in the Pawiak prison where she was tortured, including
having her legs and feet fractured; and
WHEREAS, Although sentenced to death, Ms. Sendler managed to
escape the prison and lived in hiding for the remainder of the
war; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Sendler has received numerous awards and
recognition; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Sendler was born on February 15, 1910, and died
on May 12, 2008; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate
February 15, 2018, as "Irena Sendler Day" in Pennsylvania in
recognition of her bravery and humanitarian efforts.
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