Bold Great Minds Scholarship

How did a couple of pieces of crumpled-up papers in a small jar save a generation of children from concentration camps? The story starts with a Polish woman with an ambition for an egalitarian future named Irena Sendler. In 1940, Hitler declared that all Jewish citizens were to be forced into a ghetto no more than a square mile large in Warsaw, Poland. Appalled by the conditions, Irena and her colleagues, who were social workers, secured passes to enter the ghetto under the guise of checking for typhus outbreaks. The Gestapo’s fear of the disease allowed them to sneak in resources. However, over time she realized that would not be enough; she needed to get the children out. She painfully begged parents to let her get their children out with the reality that they may never see them again. She smuggled children in coffins and briefcases under the Gestapo’s noses, risking her life each time. Her courage and selflessness never fail to inspire me; she never flinched in acting on what she thought was right. In addition, she falsified documents giving them new identities, and placed them in orphanages and foster families, keeping documentation of each child on tiny scraps of paper in a jar. In October of 1943, Irena was arrested and sent to Pawiak Prison. For 100 days, she faced brutal torture yet gave no intel. Irena escaped on the date of her execution and immediately resumed work. Typically, one would assume that after a traumatizing experience, they would head away from the danger, but she faced it fearlessly. Ultimately, Irena saved 2000 Jews from concentration camps yet still curses herself for not doing more. Even going so far as to dislike being praised because, in her words, she just did what the normal thing to do was.

A historical figure I firmly admire would be a German Commander, Erwin Rommel. Although he did fight in the Second World War against the Allied Forces, he was not a loyal Nazi-like many German commanders during Hitler’s reign. In some instances, Rommel was even disobedient to Hitler at many times whenever he saw it fit. I admire Rommel for his personality and respectful attitude towards his troops, unlike some German Commanders during the war. Often, Rommel was direct and firm to both his superiors and subordinates. Rommel, however, was gentle and kind to his troops, both German and Italian troops under his command. Despite being a renowned commander, he was a shy and introverted person, and he was overly formal even to his closest aides. Known as the “Desert Fox,” Rommel was instrumental in the German Army. Other than his military prowess, I admired him for his character. As I said earlier, Rommel, unlike other German commanders, treated his Italian allies with the utmost respect. Many commanders falsely accused Rommel of mistreating the Italians to get his position as Field Marshal, but the Prime Minister of Italy, Benito Mussolini, refuted these accusations. Rommel was the picture of modern-day Chivalry. During the war in Europe, there were orders for the execution of Allied commandos. Rommel chose to disobey these orders and treat these commandos as regular Prisoners of War. Rommel often led from the front, which put his life at high risk on many occasions. Although there are some controversies we don’t know much about, such as not intervening in the Holocaust, Rommel has proven himself to be a respectable and gallant individual. He died in 1944 after Hitler forced him to commit suicide out of suspicions that he may be rebelling against him.