Irena is the Polish and Slavic form of the Greek Irene — from eirēnē ("peace"). **Irena Sendler (1910-2008)** — **Polish Roman Catholic social worker who as head of the children's section of Żegota (the underground Council to Aid Jews) personally helped rescue approximately 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto between 1942 and 1943** — smuggling them out in coffins, ambulances, sacks, and through sewers, then placing them with Polish families and convents. **Caught by the Gestapo in October 1943, tortured, sentenced to death** — but Żegota bribed her guards to release her; she went into hiding. **She kept the children's true identities buried in jars under an apple tree** — the only record. **Honored as Righteous Among the Nations** (1965).
Subject of *The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler* (2009 film) and Anna Mieszkowska's biography.
Irena reduces to eight — the number of Warsaw Ghetto rescuer.