We, the comrades of Unit 1012, will
remember Janusz Korczak. The Polish Jew who refused freedom and stayed with his
orphans when the institution was sent from the Ghetto to the Treblinka
extermination camp, during the Grossaktion Warsaw of 1942. Let us not forget
those 200 children and this Humanitarian who did not leave them.
We will post information about
Janusz Korczak from Wikipedia and other links.
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"I exist not to be loved and admired,
but to love and act. It is not the duty of those around me to love me. Rather,
it is my duty to be concerned about the world, about man." - Janusz
Korczak (1878-1942) [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.pinterest.com/yadsarahfriends/quotes-we-live-by/]
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| Janusz Korczak |
Born
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Henryk
Goldszmit
22 July 1878 (or 1879) Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire |
Died
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August
1942 (aged 64)
Treblinka extermination camp |
Occupation
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Children's
author, humanitarian, pediatrician and child pedagogue
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Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk
Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – August 1942), was a Polish-Jewish
educator, children's author, and pediatrician known as Pan Doktor
("Mr. Doctor") or Stary Doktor ("Old Doctor"). After
spending many years working as director of an orphanage in Warsaw, he refused
freedom and stayed with his orphans when the institution was sent from the Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination
camp, during the Grossaktion
Warsaw of 1942.
Biography
Under
foreign partitions
Korczak was born in Warsaw in 1878 or
1879 (sources vary) into the family of Józef Goldszmit, a respected lawyer from
a family of proponents of the haskalah, and Cecylia nee Gębicka, daughter of a
prominent Kalisz family. Born to a Jewish family, he was an agnostic in later
life who did not believe in forcing religion on children. His father fell ill
around 1890 and was admitted to a mental hospital where he died six years later
in April 1896. Spacious apartments were given up on Miodowa street, then
Świętojerska. Henryk worked as a tutor after school. In 1898 he used Janusz
Korczak as a writing pseudonym in the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Literary
Contest. The name originated from the book Janasz Korczak and the Pretty
Swordsweeperlady (O Janaszu Korczaku i pięknej Miecznikównie) by Józef
Ignacy Kraszewski. In the 1890s he studied in the Flying University. During the
years 1898–1904 Korczak studied medicine at the University of Warsaw and also
wrote for several Polish language newspapers. After graduation he became a pediatrician.
In 1905−1912 Korczak worked at Bersohns and Baumans Children's Hospital in
Warsaw. During the Russo-Japanese War in 1905–1906 he served as a military
doctor. Meanwhile his book Child of the Drawing Room (Dziecko salonu)
gained him some literary recognition. After the war he continued his practice
in Warsaw.
In 1907–1908 Korczak went to study in Berlin.
While working for the Orphan's Society in 1909 he met Stefania Wilczyńska, his
future closest associate. In 1911–1912 he became a director of Dom Sierot
in Warsaw, the orphanage of his own design for Jewish children. He took
Wilczyńska as his assistant. There he formed a kind-of-a-republic for children
with its own small parliament, court, and a newspaper. He reduced his other
duties as a doctor. Some of his descriptions of the summer camp for Jewish
children in this period and subsequently, were later published in his Fragmenty
Utworów and have been translated into English.
During World War I, in 1914 Korczak
became a military doctor with the rank of Lieutenant. He served again as a
military doctor in the Polish Army with the rank of Major during the Polish-Soviet
War, but after a brief stint in Łódź was assigned to Warsaw.
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Janusz Korczak with the children in 1920s
Staff and children of Nasz Dom (Our
Home) Orphanage, run by Maryna Falska and Janusz Korczak in Pruszkow at
Cedrowa Street. First at left sits Maryna Falska. Behind her stand Maria
Kosińska and Podwysocka. From the right, second row from the top stands: side
of stands: Stefa Wilczyńska, Jozinka Dzięcioł, Stanisław Zemis and Dr. Korczak.
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Sovereign
Poland
In 1926 Korczak arranged for the
children of the Dom Sierot to begin their own newspaper, the Mały
Przegląd (Little Review), as a weekly attachment to the daily Polish-Jewish
Newspaper Nasz Przegląd (Our Review). In these years, his secretary was
the noted Polish novelist Igor Newerly.
During the 1930s he had his own radio
program where he promoted and popularized the rights of children. In 1933 he
was awarded the Silver Cross of the Polonia Restituta. Between 1934–36 Korczak
traveled every year to Mandate Palestine and visited its kibbutzim, which led
to some anti-semitic commentaries in the Polish press. Additionally, it spurred
his estrangement with the non-Jewish orphanage he had also been working for.
Still, he refused to move to Palestine even when Stefania Wilczyńska went to
live there in 1938. She returned to Poland in May 1939, unable to fit in, and
resumed her role of the Headmistress.
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The orphanage at 92 Krochmalna Street where
Korczak worked. He lived in a room in the attic which was destroyed during WWII
and not rebuilt.
The Children's Home [Dom Sierot] was a Jewish
orphanage established by Janusz Korczak in Warsaw in 1912. It was located at 92
Krochmalna Street in a building designed by Korczak to facilitate the
implementation of his progressive educational theories. He lived and worked
there until 1940, when the orphanage was forced to move to the Warsaw
Ghetto. Photo taken circa 1935.
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| Former Korczak's orphanage, currently 6 Jaktorowska Street |
The
Holocaust
In 1939, when World War II erupted,
Korczak volunteered for duty in the Polish Army but was refused due to his age.
He witnessed the Wehrmacht takeover of Warsaw. When the Germans created
the Warsaw Ghetto in 1940, his orphanage was forced to move from its building, Dom
Sierot at Krochmalna 92 to the Ghetto (first to Chłodna 33 and later to
Sienna 16 / Śliska 9). Korczak moved in with them. In July, Janusz Korczak
decided that the children in the orphanage should put on Rabindranath Tagore’s
play, The Post Office.
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| Last issue of Mały Przegląd (Little Review) dated 1 September 1939 |
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Janusz Korczak's (Henryk Goldszmit's) filling
card prepared during compulary registration of physicians ordered by the German
occupation authorities in Warsaw in 1940
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On 5 or 6 August 1942, German soldiers
came to collect the 192 orphans (there is some debate about the actual number:
it may have been 196), and about one dozen staff members, to transport them to Treblinka
extermination camp. Korczak had been offered sanctuary on the “Aryan side” by Żegota
but turned it down repeatedly, saying that he could not abandon his children.
On 5 August he again refused offers of sanctuary, insisting that he would go
with the children. He stayed with the children all the way until the end.
The children were dressed in their
best clothes, and each carried a blue knapsack and a favorite book or toy.
Joshua Perle, an eyewitness, described the procession of Korczak and the
children through the ghetto to the Umschlagplatz (deportation point to
the death camps):
Janusz Korczak was marching, his head bent forward, holding the hand of a child, without a hat, a leather belt around his waist, and wearing high boots. A few nurses were followed by two hundred children, dressed in clean and meticulously cared for clothes, as they were being carried to the altar.— Joshua Perle, Holocaust Chronicles
According to a popular legend, when
the group of orphans finally reached the Umschlagplatz, an SS officer
recognized Korczak as the author of one of his favorite children's books and
offered to help him escape. By another version, the officer was acting
officially, as the Nazi authorities had in mind some kind of "special
treatment" for Korczak (some prominent Jews with international reputations
got sent to Theresienstadt). Whatever the offer, Korczak once again refused. He
boarded the trains with the children and was never heard from again. Korczak's
evacuation from the Ghetto is also mentioned in Władysław Szpilman's book The
Pianist:
He told the orphans they were going out in to the country, so they ought to be cheerful. At last they would be able to exchange the horrible suffocating city walls for meadows of flowers, streams where they could bathe, woods full of berries and mushrooms. He told them to wear their best clothes, and so they came out into the yard, two by two, nicely dressed and in a happy mood. The little column was led by an SS man...— Władysław Szpilman, The Pianist
Some time after, there were rumors
that the trains had been diverted and that Korczak and the children had
survived. There was, however, no basis to these stories. Most likely, Korczak,
along with Wilczyńska and most of the children, was killed in a gas chamber
upon their arrival at Treblinka. A differing account of Korczak's departure is
given in Mary Berg's Warsaw Ghetto diary:
Dr. Janusz Korczak’s children’s home is empty now. A few days ago we all stood at the window and watched the Germans surround the houses. Rows of children, holding each other by their little hands, began to walk out of the doorway. There were tiny tots of two or three years among them, while the oldest ones were perhaps thirteen. Each child carried the little bundle in his hand.— Mary Berg, The Diary
There is a cenotaph for him at the Okopowa
Street Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw, with a monumental sculpture of
Korczak leading his children to the trains. Created originally by Mieczysław
Smorczewski in 1982, the monument was recast in bronze in 2002. The original
was re-erected at the boarding school for children with special needs in Borzęciczki,
which is named after Janusz Korczak.
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Janusz Korczak and
the children,
memorial
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Janusz Korczak monument Warsaw
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Commmemorative
stone at Treblinka
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Writings
Korczak's best known writing is his
fiction and pedagogy, and his most popular works have been widely translated.
His main pedagogical texts have been translated into English, but of his
fiction, as of 2012 only two of his novels have been translated into English: King Matt the First
and Kaytek the Wizard.
The copyright to all works by Korczak
was acquired by The
Polish Book Institute as of 8 January 2010. As of late 2011, they
have embarked on an initiative to publish or re-publish many of Korczak's
books, both in Polish and in other languages. As the date of Korczak's death
was not officially established, his date of death for legal purposes was
established in 1954 by a Polish court. As for other people whose death date was
not documented, the death date was ruled to be 9 May 1946 and this date is
considered by The Polish Book Institute as the beginning of 70 years copyright
expiration period. As of 2012 there is ongoing court trial to move the date
back to 1942, so that Korczak's works would be available in the public domain as of 1 January 2013.
Korczak's overall literary oeuvre
covers the period 1896 to 8 August 1942. It comprises works for both children
and adults, and includes literary pieces, social journalism, articles and
pedagogical essays, together with some scrappy unpublished work, in all
totaling over twenty books, over 1,400 texts published in around 100
publications, and around 300 texts in manuscript or typescript form. A complete
edition of his works is planned for 2012.
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Janusz Korczak commemorative stamp, issued by
Israel in 1962
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Children's
books
Korczak often employed the form of the
fairy tale in order to actually prepare his young readers for the dilemmas and
difficulties of real adult life, and the need to make responsible decisions.
In the 1923 King Matt the First (Król Maciuś
Pierwszy) and its sequel King Matt on the Desert
Island (Król Maciuś na wyspie bezludnej) Korczak depicted a
child prince who is catapulted to the throne by the sudden death of his father,
and who must learn from various mistakes.
He tries to read and answer all his
mail by himself and finds that the volume is too much and he needs to rely on
secretaries; he is exasperated with his ministers and has them arrested, but
soon realises that he does not know enough to govern by himself, and is forced
to release the ministers and institute constitutional monarchy; when a war
breaks out he does not accept being shut up in his palace, but slips away and
joins up, pretending to be a peasant boy - and narrowly avoids becoming a POW;
he takes the offer of a friendly journalist to publish for him a "royal
paper" -and finds much later that he gets carefully edited news and that
the journalist is covering up the gross corruption of the young king's best
friend; he tries to organise the children of all the world to hold processions
and demand their rights – and ends up antagonising other kings; he falls in
love with a black African princess and outrages racist opinion (by modern
standards, however, Korczak's depiction of blacks is itself not completely free
of stereotypes which were current at the time of writing); finally, he is
overthrown by the invasion of three foreign armies and exiled to a desert
island, where he must come to terms with reality – and finally does.
Recently (2012), another book by
Korczak was translated into English. Kajtuś the Wizard (Kajtuś czarodziej)
(1933) anticipated Harry Potter in depicting a schoolboy who gains magic
powers, and it was very popular during the 1930s, both in Polish and in
translation to several other languages. Kajtuś has, however, a far more
difficult path than Harry Potter: he has no Hogwarts-type School of Magic where
he could be taught by expert mages, but must learn to use and control his
powers all by himself - and most importantly, to learn his limitations.
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The biography of Janusz Korczak, a heroic
story published September 2002 [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.davidaadler.com/]
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Pedagogical
books
In his pedagogical works, Korczak
shares much of his experience dealing with difficult children. Korczak's ideas
were further developed by many other pedagogues such as Simon Soloveychik and Erich
Dauzenroth.
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The King of Children: The Life and Death of
Janusz Korczak
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/790463.The_King_of_Children]
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List of
selected works
Fiction
- Children of the Streets (Dzieci ulicy, Warsaw 1901)
- Fiddle-Faddle (Koszałki opałki, Warsaw 1905)
- Child of the Drawing Room (Dziecko salonu, Warsaw 1906, 2nd edition 1927) – partially autobiographical
- Mośki, Joski i Srule (Warsaw 1910)
- Józki, Jaśki i Franki (Warsaw 1911)
- Fame (Sława, Warsaw 1913, corrected 1935 and 1937)
- Bobo (Warsaw 1914)
- King Matt the First (Król Maciuś Pierwszy, Warsaw 1923) ISBN 1-56512-442-1
- King Matt on a Deserted Island (Król Maciuś na wyspie bezludnej, Warsaw 1923)
- Bankruptcy of Little Jack (Bankructwo małego Dżeka, Warsaw 1924)
- When I Am Little Again (Kiedy znów będę mały, Warsaw 1925)
- Senat szaleńców, humoreska ponura (Madmen's Senate, play premièred at the Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw, 1931)
- Kaytek the Wizard (Kajtuś czarodziej, Warsaw 1935)
Pedagogical books
- Momenty wychowawcze (Warsaw, 1919, 2nd edition 1924)
- How to Love a Child (Jak kochać dziecko, Warsaw 1919, 2nd edition 1920 as Jak kochać dzieci)
- The Child's Right to Respect (Prawo dziecka do szacunku, Warsaw, 1929)
- Playful pedagogy (Pedagogika żartobliwa, Warsaw, 1939)
Other books
- Diary (Pamiętnik, Warsaw, 1958)
- Fragmenty Utworów (* The Stubborn Boy: The Life of Pasteur (Warsaw, 1935)
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"I exist not to be loved and admired,
but to love and act. It is not the duty of those around me to love me. Rather,
it is my duty to be concerned about the world, about man."
- Janusz Korczak (1878-1942)
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.pinterest.com/yadsarahfriends/quotes-we-live-by/]
|
In popular
culture
In addition to theater, opera, TV, and
film adaptations of his works, such as King Matt the First and Kaytek the Wizard, there have been a number
of works about Korczak, inspired by him, or featuring him as a character.
Books:
- Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli (2003) – Doctor Korczak runs an orphanage in Warsaw where the main character often visits him
- Moshe en Reizele (Mosje and Reizele) by Karlijn Stoffels (2004) – Mosje is sent to live in Korczak's orphanage, where he falls in love with Reizele. Set in the period 1939-1942. Original Dutch, German translation available. No English version as of 2009.
- Once by Morris Gleitzman (2005), partly inspired by Korczak, featuring a character modeled after him
- Kindling by Alberto Valis (Felici Editori, 2011), Italian thriller novel. The life of Korczak through the voice of a Warsaw ghetto's orphan. As of 2011, no English translation.
- The Time Tunnel - Kingdom of the Children by Galila Ron-Feder-Amit (2007) is an Israeli children's book in the Time Tunnel series that takes place in Korczak's orphanage.
Stage plays:
- Dr Korczak and the Children by Erwin Sylvanus (1957)
- Korczak's Children by Jeffrey Hatcher (2003)
- Dr Korczak's Example by David Greig (2001)[22]
- The Children's Republic A play based on the life and work of Yanusz Korczak (2008) by Elena Khalitov, Harmony Theatre Company and School
- The Children's Republic by Hannah Moscovitch (2009)
Musicals:
- Facing the wall - Janusz Korczak by Klaus-Peter Rex and Daniel Hoffmann (1997) presented by Music-theatre fuenf brote und zwei fische, Wülfrath
- Korczak by Nick Stimson and Chris Williams (2011) presented by Youth Music Theatre: UK at the Rose Theatre, Kingston in August 2011.
Film:
- Korczak, written by Agnieszka Holland, directed by Andrzej Wajda (1990)
Television:
- Studio 4: Dr Korczak and the Children - BBC adaptation of Sylvanus's play, written and directed by Rudolph Cartier (13 March 1962)
Music:
- Korczak's Orphans – opera, music by Adam Silverman, libretto by Susan Gubernat (2003)
- Kaddish – long poem/song by Alexander Galich (1970)
- Kung Mattias I - opera, music by Viggo Edén, from writings by Korczak, given World Premiere at Höör's Summer Opera (Sweden) on 9 August 2012.
- 'The Little Review' from album 'Where the Darkness Goes', Awna Teixeira, 2012
Astronomy:
- Asteroid 2163 Korczak is named in his honor.
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