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Life in a Jar trip to Poland
Article by Jessica Shelton, Meagan Whitehead
and Megan Stewart
Picking Up Passengers
When we began this project six
years ago, we had no idea where life would take us.
A man in our early audience told us, "you
are on a journey, picking up passengers, to make a difference
in the world." We continue on this journey
and find more and more people wanting to make a difference.
During the last of May and the first part of June we
traveled to Poland for a total of nine days. So here
are paragraphs on Irena, presentations, projects and
the press.
On the last day of our journey
we visited with Irena for a 3rd time on the trip. She
cried and we wept. Irena said beautiful things to us,
that we had become her family, that we had taken the
place of her son who had died when the project began,
that we had changed her country and would continue to
change it. She said we had given her hope and inspiration,
and had given hope and inspiration to millions. Yet,
it was Irena who has given hope and inspiration. We
had time on this last visit before we caught our plane
home, to practice lines of the play with Irena listening
(she has never seen the Life in a Jar play and can1t
travel due to her health). This was such a tender time
and such a beautiful moment. Her friends and family
say our funding of her and care for her has extended
her life. We are humbled to not only share in the life
of this great hero of the Holocaust, but become part
of her family.
Presentation number one was at
Agora Hall in Warsaw. Agora Hall is the home of the
largest newspaper in Eastern Europe, the Gazeta Wyborzca.
We presented to public school students, survivors and
rescuers, plus the senior editor of the paper. The audience
received the presentation in a warm manner and quickly
came up to visit with us afterwards. Many of the school
children in the audience had projects similar to ours,
inspired by Life in a Jar. We were overwhelmed to see
these schools copying our story. Mr. Conard whispered,
"imitation is the greatest form of flattery."
Presentation number two was in
the Jewish Theater of Warsaw. The old theater had 350
seats, but 500 people showed up, some even sitting on
the stage. They had headsets to listen to the translation.
The audience had a very enthusiastic response and we
were again humbled by the outpouring of emotion at the
end of the presentation. Sitting on the stage was Hanna,
in whose yard Irena buried the jars. We spent time with
her and the apple tree later in the week. We understood
how ironic it was to be presenting in Warsaw, Kansas
Protestants, telling the story of Polish Catholics,
who saved Jewish children, and being filmed by the press
of Europe, especially a German State television crew.
Sixty years after the fall of Nazi Germany, the producer
of the German crew came up to us in tears after the
program and said, 3this is the most touching story I1ve
even seen.2 The entire day revolved around this presentation
and we were exhausted afterwards.
Presentation number three was
the most emotional and powerful of almost any of the
170 we have done. We went to the beautiful mountains
of Zakopane in the South, stopping in lovely Krackow
on our way. This was a presentation at the 14th annual
Child Survivors Conference. 200 child survivors and
rescuers were present and the audience started crying
during the introductions of our cast. They were seeing
their story and they were seeing American kids from
rural Kansas present the story. It wasn1t the standing
ovation, or the many, many hugs, which caused us to
feel deep emotion, it was that they had allowed us to
tell their story. Many came up afterwards to say how
authentic our play was.
As we watched the survivors,
we could see they weren1t sad with our play, but were
processing our words and meaning. They were so touched
and so incredibly amazed by the beauty of our story.
They could not only relate to every aspect of our presentation,
but could feel what we were saying. We truly considered
it an honor to present to these special people.
As an extra, the Rabbi of Poland,
Michael Shudrich, came 300 miles by train to see the
play for the second time on our trip. As was related
in our ONews of the Week,1 Travis Stewart (project member
and Megan1s brother), who played the German officer,
said a line, "men in the right line, women on the
left," during the play. A few moments later, an
elderly woman moved to a seat by Mr. Conard and whispered,
"I remember the right and the left lines."
They both hugged and cried.
Life in a Jar started as a National
History Day project in 1999. Today, it has become a
model for projects in the U.S. and around the world.
We were thrilled to hear that more than 60 public schools
in Poland have established projects based on Life in
a Jar. We spent the afternoon with some young people
who had written, 3The Tent of God,2
a play similar to ours. So, with this project, we have
caused others to develop. After the meetings we visited
privately with the students. One of the students said
she had faced intolerance while working on her project
and that this made her more aware of the need for such
projects of tolerance and respect. It was touching and
inspiring to see students with projects like ours.
On the first trip to Poland,
we arrived at the airport to find a huge group of media,
we were overwhelmed. By this trip, we have become used
to microphones. We have learned that the press can tell
Irena1s beautiful story in far greater numbers than
we can. One of the media men on the trip estimated over
twenty million people in Europe will hear Irena1s story
from the press on this trip. We developed friendships
with several of the people involved. In the next paragraphs
is a listing of the media we met.
Polish State Television was with
us a little more than the German crew. Also, the largest
newspaper in Eastern Europe featured us on page 10 on
Monday, page 2 on Tuesday and on the front page on Wednesday.
We end with a letter from a Jewish
man in Kansas City, Howard Jacobson, who has been a
major friend of the project. "I feel you are all
heroes because of the time and energy you have committed
and continue to commit to the Irena Sendler story. Your
commitment to this project has raised Irena and her
story to a new level of recognition in her city of Warsaw,
her country of Poland as well as throughout the world.
My wife Rosalyn and I have been
pleased to be travelers on your journey the last 5 years.
You have changed the world with
your project and will continue to do so. This story
ripples out on the waters and continues to spread. I
can1t begin to tell you what an impact you have had
on people. You are my heroes!!"
We send a big thank you to the
Children of the Holocaust organization and Elzbieta
Ficowska. Irena and Elzbieta organized this journey
and also we thank Thomasz Kasprzak, Bieta's assistant,
for being with us the entire time. We join these wonderful
people and the organization of the World Federation
of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust in repairing
the world and your constant encouragement with Life
in a Jar and the Irena Sendler Project. A special thanks
to Stefanie Seltzer, Rene Lichtman and Renata Zajdman.
Jessica plays Marie (Irena Schultz
in Life in a Jar), Marie is Irena1s strongest helper
in her network. Maegan plays the Jewish mother and Megan
Stewart plays Irena. Megan Stewart and Jessica Shelton
are founders of the project.
Received from Norman Conard July
20, 2005,
610 Meadow Lane Fort Scott, KS
66701
www.irenasendler.org
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