Psychology of Hope in the social activity of Irena Sendlerowa (1910–2008)

• Authors: Smoleń, Jerzy

Abstracts

EN

Hope is a significant element of human life. It is very hard to build our everyday life without hope for a better tomorrow. This article presents psychology of hope in Irena Sendlerowa’s social activity which saved about 2500 Jewish children during the Second World War (1939–1945) consists of an introduction, two points which present following issues: in the first point, according to the structure of hope by Józef Kozielecki, there are some elements presented that create active hope: cognitive, emotional, temporal, affiliative, agency. These elements have been faced with life and activities of Irena Sendlerowa. In the second perspective the sources of Irena Sendlerowa’s hope are described: 1. childhood experiences, especially the beauty of family house atmosphere where openness of heart to another human being was visible in particular to people in need. 2. Irena Sendlerowa’s self-confidence not overconfidence had an essential influence and translation into the success of taking actions. 3. belief which has never been expressed by Sendlerowa, although we still can assume that she was a strength, silent support for her actions which can be proved by her own words: “One day I found a small damaged picture with the inscription Jesus, I trust in You! I hid it and had it all the time with me” (Mieszkowska, 2005, s. 200). It is undeniable that Irena Sendlerowa can be a remarkable example how crucial the role of hope is in human life and how much people can do if they live in hope every day.

Keywords

EN

psychology of hope; Irena Sendlerowa; social activity

• Publisher: Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej im. Marii Grzegorzewskiej. Wydawnictwo APS
• Journal: Praca Socjalna
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 33(1)
• Pages: 57-66

Dates

published

2019-10-16

Contributors

author

Smoleń, Jerzy