Irena Sendler: In the Name of Their Mothers (2011)

95-year-old Polish heroine Irena Sendler tells the unknown story of a conspiracy of women who outwitted the Nazis and rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during WWII.

Director:

Mary Skinner

Stars:

Irena Sendlerowa, Jan Becker

Cast

Credited cast:
Irena Sendlerowa	...	Herself (as Irena Sendler)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jan Becker	...	Narrator

Storyline

95-year-old Irena Sendler tells the true story of a secret network of Polish women who rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto and hid them until the end of the war. In 1943 the Gestapo captured Sendler, tortured her and sentenced her to death, but she refused to divulge anything about the women or the hidden children. She escaped on the day she was to be executed when the Polish Resistance bribed a German guard. All of the 2500 children rescued by her conspiracy survived the war and many were re-united with their Jewish families. But for decades, they could not tell their stories. The new Communist regime in Poland silenced former members of the Polish Resistance and most of Sendler's liaisons were persecuted or exiled. Over 65 years later they can finally speak about their wartime work as the once hidden Jewish children return to Warsaw to re-unite with their Polish protectors.

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Plot Keywords:

jewish | warsaw ghetto | poland | world war two | holocaust | 

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Taglines:

Polish heroine Irena Sendler and her conspiracy of women rescue thousands of Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during WWII.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Polish

Release Date:

1 May 2011 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$495,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

2B Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Features Irena Sendler in the last long interviews she gave before she died in May 2008.

User Reviews

Thank you Poland for sharing your amazing women with the world

Very inspiriting story of brave hearts of Polish catholic women. Between 1939 and 1945, Irena Sendler, a young Polish Catholic social worker, led a daring conspiracy of young catholic women who saved thousands of Jewish children from certain death. Yet little was known about them until recently. Participants in the Polish Resistance, they were viewed as a threat to the Communists who took over Poland in 1945 and their stories and many others were suppressed for decades. Now American filmmaker Mary Skinner, the daughter of a Warsaw war orphan, brings their remarkable saga to life in Irena Sendler In the Name of Their Mothers. The extraordinary film features 95-year-old Irena Sendler in the last interviews she gave before she died in 1998, together with her co-workers and the Jewish children they saved.