14 Friday, November 12, 1982
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Janusz Korczak Hero Without Heroics
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By DIANE GREENBERG
JERUSALEM — Forty
years ago, in August 1942,
Dr. Janusz Korczak, pediat-
rician, educator and writer,
was deported to a Nazi
death camp in a cattle
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each place life went on nor-
mally with the same mutual
respect and tolerance.
Korczak occasionally in-
vited well-known Jewish
scholars trapped in the
ghetto to come and talk to
the children.
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In his diary, which he
wrote in his small office
which also served as a
bedroom and orphanage
infirmary, Korczak wrote
solely about the safety
and lives of his children.
Baruch Sakcier's sculpture of Janusz Korczak
and his children at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem.
truck. With him were more phanage in Warsaw.
than 200 of "his children,"
the orphans of the Dom
Sierot Jewish orphanage of
Warsaw and his faithful
assistant Stefania
Wilczynska.
Korczak, an interna-
tional figure, was offered
refuge if he left his work.
Refusing, he held the hands
of his children and proudly
boarded the train to Treb-
linka. Holocaust history re-
cords other cases of
educators following
Korczak's example .and
proudly accompanying
their pupils to the death
camps.
Janusz Korczak was born
Henryk Goldszmidt in 1878
to a wealthy, assimilated
Warsaw Jewish family. Be-
fore qualifying as a physi-
cian he published his first
book in 1901, "Children of
the Street." This was a
realistic description of
homeless orphans in the
cities, living on their wits,
stealing to survive, yet re-
taining their sense of right
and wrong.
He followed this with
"A Child of the Salon,"
which painted a contrast-
ing picture of a pampered
middle class boy whose
existence depends on the
dictatorship of money.
Both books made an im-
pact on the Polish intel-
lectual public and
aroused discussion and
controversy.
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In 1911, Korczak firmly
believed that the future
hope of society rested not on
the improvement of gov-
ernments but on the im-
provement of the human-be-
ing. This could not be
achieved by compulsion or
imposing the pedagogue's
views from above and de-
stroying the individuality of
the child. Rather the child
must be helped to develop
his own moral backbone.
The children in the or-
phanage had their own sys-
tem of self-government with
a legal code and court of
honor. They organized their
own work schedule and pro-
duced a newspaper. The
educational methods prac-
ticed at the orphanage
created a living experimen-
tal laboratory which drew
teachers, parents and social
workers from all over Po-
land.
As a result of his suc-
cess, Korczak was asked
by the authorities to as-
-- sist in the setting up of a
parallel, non-Jewish or-
- - -
Along with his pedagogi-
cal activities Korczak con-
tinued to write and during
World War I, in which he
served the Polish army,
he wrote "How to Love a
Child," which was a synth-
esis of his experiences. He
also wrote children's books,
the most famous of which,
"King Matthew the First,"
was about a utopian king-
dom of children led by a re-
former king whose philos-
ophy was virtually that of
the author.
In the 1930s, Korczak
broadcast on the radio as
"The Old Doctor," full of ad-
vice and kindly homespun
wisdom. He had become a
household name.
With the rise of Hitler
and the spread of anti-
Semitism Korczak de-
veloped a greater aware-
ness of his . Jewish con-
sciousness and became a
non-Zionist member of the
Jewish Agency Executive.
He visited Palestine and
spent time with many of his
old pupils. He admired the
Zionist experiment and was
impressed by the kibutz so-
cial philosophy but at no
point was prepared to desert
his children in Warsaw in
order to start a new life in
Palestine.
Meanwhile, life was
becoming steadily worse
and with the Nazi inva-
sion of Poland the Jewish
orphanage was trans-
ferred to the ghetto. De-'
spite the risks and hard-
ships of the German oc-
cupation, Korczak was
untiring in his efforts to
provide for the children.
All that mattered was to
get through each hour and
each day.
Korczak appealed to the
public at large for help, for
money, food and clothing:
". . We are expiring from
the lack of immediate aid. I
*require a loan of 2,000 zlo-
tys. We bear a responsibil-
ity not just for the orphan-
age but for the tradition of
aid for the child. Ignoble if
we refuse, wretched if we
evade, foul if we besmirch
the 2,000-year-old tradi-
tion. Preserve dignity in
adversity.
"I write this appeal in my
own name and on my own
responsibility. Not just 100
but 150 children are in the
Dom Sierot (orphanage)."
As the area of the ghetto
was continually narrowed
Korczak was forced to move
with the children. But in
When the deportation
order was served in August
1942, Korczak told the chil-
dren they were going on a
picnic in the country. Dres-
sed in their best clothes,
carrying their most trea-
sured possessions, they fol-
lowed Korczak and walked
the two miles from the or-
phanage to the station.
There Korczak refused a
last-minute offer of his free-
dom in exchange for aban-
doning the children.
Calming and encourag-
ing the children, he climbed
onto the train destined for
Treblinka.
Role of JWB
NEW YORK — JWB
(Jewish Welfare Board) is
the agency accredited by the
U.S. government to provide
religious, Jewish educa-
tional, morale and welfare
services to Jews in the U.S.
armed forces, their families
and hospitalized veterans
on behalf of the American
Jewish community.
At the same time, JWB is
the network and the central
service agency for 275
Jewish community centers,
YM and YWHAs and com-
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JWB also serves the
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related projects.
JWB is supported by
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United Jewish Appeal-
Federation Campaign of
Greater New York, Jewish
community centers, Young
Men's and Women's Hebrew
Associations and JWB
Associates.
Polish-Jewish
Cemeteries May
Soon Disappear
JERUSALEM (JNI) — A
substantial percentage of
the 300 Jewish cemeteries
in Pol'and are in danger of
disappearing, according to
Yad Vashem Holocaust
Memorial officials who re-
cently visited Warsaw.
The director general of
the Polish Ministry of Reli-
gious Affairs told the two
visiting Israelis that the
Polish government was in-
sufficiently funded to main-
tain the cemeteries. The
Polish official suggested
that Jewish organizations
throughout the world, or an
ad hoc Israeli committee,
offer financial assistance
and guidance.