Janusz Korczak
Encyclopedia
Janusz Korczak, the pen name
of Henryk Goldszmit (July 22, 1878 – August 1942) was a Polish-Jewish children's author
, and pediatrician
known as Pan Doktor (Mr Doctor) or Stary Doktor (Old Doctor). After spending many years working in an orphanage, he refused freedom and stayed with the children when the organization was sent to extermination camps.
Jews and his father, Józef Goldszmit, was from a family of proponents of the haskalah
. Korczak's father died in 1896, possibly by his own hand, leaving the family without a source of income. Over the next few years, the family was forced to abandon their spacious apartment. During his late teens, Korczak was the sole breadwinner for his mother, sister, and grandmother.
In 1898 he used Janusz Korczak as a writing pseudonym
in Ignacy Paderewski's literary contest. The name originated from the book Janusz Korczak and the Pretty Swordsweeperlady by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
. In 1890s he studied in the Flying University
. In the years 1898–1904 Korczak studied medicine at the University of Warsaw
and also wrote for several Polish language
newspapers.
After his graduation he became a pediatrician. During the Russo-Japanese War
in 1905–1906 he served as a military doctor. Meanwhile his book Child of the Drawing Room gained him some literary recognition. After the war he continued his practice in Warsaw.
In 1907–1908 Korczak continued his studies in Berlin
. While working for the Orphan's Society in 1909 he met Stefania Wilczyńska. In 1911–1912 he became a director of Dom Sierot, the orphanage of his own design
for Jewish children in Warsaw. He took Wilczyńska as his closest associate. There he formed a kind-of-a-republic
for children with its own small parliament
, court
and 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 Utworow and have been translated into English.
In 1914 Korczak again became a military doctor with the rank of Lieutenant
during World War I
. During the Polish-Soviet War
he served again as a military doctor with the rank of major but was assigned to Warsaw after a brief stint in Łódź.
(Our Review). In these years his secretary was the noted Polish novelist Igor Newerly
.
During the 1930s he had his own radio program until it was cancelled due to complaints from anti-semites
. In 1933 he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Polonia Restituta
. In 1934–1936 Korczak traveled yearly to Mandate Palestine and visited its kibbutz
im. That led to increasing anti-semitic attacks in the Polish press. It additionally spurred his estrangement with the non-Jewish orphanage he had been working for. Still, he refused to move to Palestine even when Wilczyńska went to live there for a year in 1938.
erupted, Korczak volunteered for duty in the Polish Army but was refused due to his age. He witnessed the Wehrmacht
taking over 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 Sienna16/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
.
On August 5 or 6, 1942, German soldiers came to collect the 192 (there is some debate about the actual number and it may have been 196) orphans and about one dozen staff members to take 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 August 5, he again refused offers of sanctuary, insisting that he would go with the children.
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):
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
:
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. There is a cenotaph
for him at the Powązki Cemetery
in Warsaw.
in order to actually prepare his young readers for the dilemmas and difficulties of real adult life, and the need to take 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 stereotype
s 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.
The later Kajtuś the Wizard (Kajtuś czarodziej) (1935) anticipated Harry Potter
in depicting a schoolboy who gains magic powers (and its popularity during the 1930s, in both Polish and in translation to several other languages, was nearly comparable to the present popularity of the Potter series). 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.
and Erich Dauzenroth.
Once by morris gleitzman
autobiographical
Stage plays:
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Film:
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Music:
Astronomy:
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of Henryk Goldszmit (July 22, 1878 – August 1942) was a Polish-Jewish children's author
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
, and pediatrician
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...
known as Pan Doktor (Mr Doctor) or Stary Doktor (Old Doctor). After spending many years working in an orphanage, he refused freedom and stayed with the children when the organization was sent to extermination camps.
Russian Empire
Janusz Korczak was born in Warsaw to an assimilated Jewish family. His mother, surname Głębicka, was the daughter of prominent KaliszKalisz
Kalisz is a city in central Poland with 106,857 inhabitants , the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Nowe Skalmierzyce...
Jews and his father, Józef Goldszmit, was from a family of proponents of the haskalah
Haskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
. Korczak's father died in 1896, possibly by his own hand, leaving the family without a source of income. Over the next few years, the family was forced to abandon their spacious apartment. During his late teens, Korczak was the sole breadwinner for his mother, sister, and grandmother.
In 1898 he used Janusz Korczak as a writing pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
in Ignacy Paderewski's literary contest. The name originated from the book Janusz Korczak and the Pretty Swordsweeperlady by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski was a Polish writer, historian and journalist who produced more than 200 novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews He is best known for his epic series on the history of Poland, comprising twenty-nine novels in seventy-nine parts.As a novelist writing about...
. In 1890s he studied in the Flying University
Flying University
Flying University was the name of an underground educational enterprise that operated from 1885 to 1905 in Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, then under the control of the Russian Empire, and that was revived between 1977 and 1981 in the People's Republic of Poland...
. In the years 1898–1904 Korczak studied medicine at the University of Warsaw
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland and one of the most prestigious, ranked as best Polish university in 2010 and 2011...
and also wrote for several Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
newspapers.
After his graduation he became a pediatrician. During the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
in 1905–1906 he served as a military doctor. Meanwhile his book Child of the Drawing Room gained him some literary recognition. After the war he continued his practice in Warsaw.
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. While working for the Orphan's Society in 1909 he met Stefania Wilczyńska. In 1911–1912 he became a director of Dom Sierot, the orphanage of his own design
Korczak's orphanages
The orphanages ran by Janusz Korczak and Stefania Wilczyńska were among the earliest Democratic education institutes in the world. They were two orphanages, located in Warsaw. One orphanage was established for Jewish children in 1911 and stopped working on 1942, when the SS took all its residents...
for Jewish children in Warsaw. He took Wilczyńska as his closest associate. There he formed a kind-of-a-republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
for children with its own small parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
, court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
and 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 Utworow and have been translated into English.
In 1914 Korczak again became a military doctor with the rank of Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. During the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
he served again as a military doctor with the rank of major but was assigned to Warsaw after a brief stint in Łódź.
Poland
In 1926 Korczak let the children at Dom Sierot begin their own newspaper, the Mały Przegląd (Little Review), as a weekly attachment to the daily Polish-Jewish Newspaper Nasz PrzeglądNasz Przegląd
Nasz Przegląd was a Polish-Jewish newspaper with Zionist leanings. It was founded in 1923. Nasz Przegląd was the most well-known Polish-Jewish newspaper in interwar Poland. It was noted for its quality of writing and staunch Polish-Jewish stance. It was issued daily from Warsaw...
(Our Review). In these years his secretary was the noted Polish novelist Igor Newerly
Igor Newerly
Igor Newerly or Igor Abramow-Newerly was a Polish novelist and educator. He was born into a Russian-Polish family. His son is Polish novelist Jarosław Abramow-Newerly...
.
During the 1930s he had his own radio program until it was cancelled due to complaints from anti-semites
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. In 1933 he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Polonia Restituta
Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta is one of Poland's highest Orders. The Order can be conferred for outstanding achievements in the fields of education, science, sport, culture, art, economics, defense of the country, social work, civil service, or for furthering good relations between countries...
. In 1934–1936 Korczak traveled yearly to Mandate Palestine and visited its kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
im. That led to increasing anti-semitic attacks in the Polish press. It additionally spurred his estrangement with the non-Jewish orphanage he had been working for. Still, he refused to move to Palestine even when Wilczyńska went to live there for a year in 1938.
The Holocaust
In 1939, when World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
erupted, Korczak volunteered for duty in the Polish Army but was refused due to his age. He witnessed the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
taking over Warsaw. When the Germans
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
created the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
in 1940, his orphanage was forced to move from its building, Dom Sierot at Krochmalna 92 to the ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
(first to Chłodna 33 and later to Sienna16/Śliska 9). Korczak moved in with them. In July, Janusz Korczak decided that the children in the orphanage should put on Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
’s play, The Post Office
The Post Office (play)
The Post Office is a 1912 play by Rabindranath Tagore. It concerns Amal, a child confined to his adopted uncle's home by an incurable disease. W...
.
Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II near the village of Treblinka in the modern-day Masovian Voivodeship of Poland. The camp, which was constructed as part of Operation Reinhard, operated between and ,. During this time, approximately 850,000 men, women...
. Korczak had been offered sanctuary on the “Aryan side” by Żegota
Zegota
"Żegota" , also known as the "Konrad Żegota Committee", was a codename for the Polish Council to Aid Jews , an underground organization of Polish resistance in German-occupied Poland from 1942 to 1945....
but turned it down repeatedly, saying that he could not abandon his children. On August 5, he again refused offers of sanctuary, insisting that he would go with the children.
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
Umschlagplatz
In the Holocaust, the Umschlagplatz in the Warsaw Ghetto was where Jews gathered for deportation to the Treblinka extermination camp.During the Grossaktion Warsaw, beginning on July 22, 1942, Jews were deported in crowded freight cars to Treblinka. On some days as many as 7,000 Jews were deported...
(deportation point to the death camps):
- ... A miracle occurred. Two hundred children did not cry out. Two hundred pure souls, condemned to death, did not weep. Not one of them ran away. None tried to hide. Like stricken swallows they clung to their teacher and mentor, to their father and brother, Janusz Korczak, so that he might protect and preserve them. 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. (...) On all sides the children were surrounded by Germans, UkrainiansUkrainiansUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, and this time also Jewish policemenJewish Ghetto PoliceJewish Ghetto Police , also known as the Jewish Police Service and referred to by the Jews as the Jewish Police, were the auxiliary police units organized in the Jewish ghettos of Europe by local Judenrat councils under orders of occupying German Nazis.Members of the did not have official...
. They whipped and fired shots at them. The very stones of the street wept at the sight of the procession.
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
The Pianist (memoir)
The Pianist is a memoir of the Polish musician of Jewish origins Władysław Szpilman, written and elaborated by a Polish author Jerzy Waldorff, who met Szpilman in 1938 in Krynica and became a friend of him...
:
- One day, around 5th August, when I had taken a brief rest from work and was walking down Gęsia Street, I happened to see Janusz Korczak and his orphans leaving the ghetto. The evacuation of the Jewish orphanage run by Janusz Korczak had been ordered for that morning. The children were to have been taken away alone. He had the chance to save himself, and it was only with difficulty that he persuaded the Germans to take him too. He had spent long years of his life with children and now, on this last journey, he could not leave them alone. He wanted to ease things for them. 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 who loved children, as Germans do, even those he was about to see on their way into the next world. He took a special liking to a boy of twelve, a violinist who had his instrument under his arm. The SS man told him to go to the head of the procession of children and play – and so they set off. When I met them in Gęsia Street, the smiling children were singing in chorus, the little violinist was playing for them and Korczak was carrying two of the smallest infants, who were beaming too, and telling them some amusing story. I am sure that even in the gas chamber, as the Zyklon BZyklon BZyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust. The "B" designation indicates one of two types of Zyklon...
gas was stifling childish throats and striking terror instead of hope into the orphans' hearts, the Old Doctor must have whispered with one last effort, ‘it's all right, children, it will be all right’. So that at least he could spare his little charges the fear of passing from life to death."
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. There is a cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
for him at the Powązki Cemetery
Powazki Cemetery
Powązki Cemetery , also known as the Stare Powązki is a historic cemetery located in the Wola district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. It is the most famous cemetery in the city, and one of the oldest...
in Warsaw.
Children's books
Korczak often employed the form of the fairy taleFairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
in order to actually prepare his young readers for the dilemmas and difficulties of real adult life, and the need to take responsible decisions.
In the 1923 King Matt the First
King Matt the First
King Matt the First is a children's novel by Polish author, physician, and child pedagogue Janusz Korczak. In addition to telling the story of a young king's adventures, it describes many social reforms, particularly targeting children, some of which Korczak enacted in his own orphanage, and is a...
(Król Maciuś Pierwszy) and its sequel King Matt on the Desert Island
Little King Matty...and the Desert Island
Little King Matty and the Desert Island is a children's book by Janusz Korczak, first published in 1923. It is the sequel to King Matt the First, depicting the exile of the young king....
(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
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
; 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 stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s 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.
The later Kajtuś the Wizard (Kajtuś czarodziej) (1935) anticipated Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
in depicting a schoolboy who gains magic powers (and its popularity during the 1930s, in both Polish and in translation to several other languages, was nearly comparable to the present popularity of the Potter series). Kajtuś has, however, a far more difficult path than Harry Potter: he has no Hogwarts
Hogwarts
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...
-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.
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 SoloveychikSimon Soloveychik
Simon L'vovich Soloveychik was a Russian publicist, educator and philosopher.- Brief biography :After graduating Moscow State University in 1953 he worked as a boys and girls scouts leader, a secondary school teacher, and a correspondent of Pioneer magazine.In 1960 he worked for the newspaper...
and Erich Dauzenroth.
Fiction
- Children of the Streets (Dzieci ulicy, Warsaw 1901)
- Koszałki Opałki (Warsaw, 1905)
- Child of the Drawing Room (Dziecko salonu, Warsaw 1906, 2nd edition 1927) – partially
Once by morris gleitzman
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 (a screenplay for the Ateneum theatre in Warsaw 1931)
- Kajtus the Wizard (Kajtuś czarodziej, Warsaw 1935)
- Milkweed ( Doctor Korczak )
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 (Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Nasza Księgarnia, 1978). Excerpts translated by Adele L. Milch were published in Moment Magazine, November 1979.
- The Stubborn Boy: The Life of Pasteur (Warsaw, 1935)
In popular culture
Books:- MilkweedMilkweed (novel)Milkweed is a 2003 historical fiction novel by American author Jerry Spinelli. The book is about a boy in Warsaw, Poland in the years of World War II during the Holocaust. Over time, he learns that he is a Gypsy but he is taken in by a Jewish group of orphans, so he must avoid the German troops ...
- by Jerry SpinelliJerry SpinelliJerry Spinelli is an author of children's novels on adolescence and early adulthood. He is best known for the novels Maniac Magee and Wringer....
(2003) - Doctor Korczak runs an orphanage in Warsaw where the main character often visits him - Moshe en Reizele (Mosje and Reizele) (2004) - by Karlijn Stoffels - 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 at time of writing (March 2009).
- Kindling (novel) by Alberto Valis (Felici Editori, 2011) The life of Korczak through the voice of a Warsaw ghetto's orphan. Thriller, only italian version.
Stage plays:
- Dr Korczak and the Children by Erwin Sylvanus (1957)
- Korczak's Children by Jeffrey HatcherJeffrey HatcherJeffrey Hatcher is a playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty, which he later adapted into a screenplay, shortened to just Stage Beauty...
(2003) - Dr Korczak's Example by David GreigDavid Greig (dramatist)David Greig is a Scottish playwright and theatre director.Greig was born in Edinburgh in 1969 and was brought up in Nigeria. He studied drama at Bristol University. He has been commissioned by the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company amongst others.His...
(2001) - The Children's Republic by Hannah MoscovitchHannah MoscovitchHannah Moscovitch is a Canadian playwright. She is best known for her plays East of Berlin, Essay, and The Russian Play.-Life and career:...
(2009)
Musicals:
- Korczak by Nick Stimson and Chris Williams (2011) presented by Youth Music Theatre: UKYouth Music Theatre: UKYouth Music Theatre UK is the United Kingdom's biggest provider of music theatre projects for young people. It is one of nine recognised National Youth Music Organisations ....
at the Rose Theatre, KingstonRose Theatre, KingstonThe Rose Theatre, Kingston is a theatre on Kingston High Street in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The theatre seats 899 around a wide, lozenge shaped stage....
in August 2011.
Film:
- Korczak, written by Agnieszka HollandAgnieszka HollandAgnieszka Holland is a Polish film and TV director and screenwriter. Best recognized for her highly political contributions to Polish cinema, Holland is one of Poland's most prominent filmmakers.-Personal life:...
, directed by Andrzej WajdaAndrzej WajdaAndrzej Wajda is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is possibly the most prominent member of the unofficial "Polish Film School"...
(1990)
Television:
- Studio 4: Dr Korczak and the Children - BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
adaptation of Sylvanus's play, written and directed by Rudolph CartierRudolph CartierRudolph Cartier was an Austrian television director, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer who worked predominantly in British television, exclusively for the BBC...
(13 March 1962)
Music:
- "King Matt the FirstKing Matt the FirstKing Matt the First is a children's novel by Polish author, physician, and child pedagogue Janusz Korczak. In addition to telling the story of a young king's adventures, it describes many social reforms, particularly targeting children, some of which Korczak enacted in his own orphanage, and is a...
" - opera for/by children, music by Lev KonovLev KonovLev Konov is a Russian composer, conductor, and producer. He graduated in Moscow Conservatory in 1980.-Operas:...
, libretto by Lev Konov, Olga Zhukova, Ali Ibragimov (1988,1992) Moscow - Korczak's Orphans - opera, music by Adam SilvermanAdam SilvermanAdam Benjamin Silverman is a composer of contemporary classical music. His works include the opera Korczak's Orphans , chamber and orchestral music, and music for the theater...
, libretto by Susan Gubernat (2003) - KaddishKaddishKaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service...
- long poem/song by Aleksandr Galich (1970)
Astronomy:
- Asteroid 2163 Korczak2163 Korczak2163 Korczak is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 16, 1971 at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. It is named for Polish children's writer Janusz Korczak.- External links :...
is named in his honor.
Further reading
- Joseph, Sandra (1999). A Voice for the Child: The inspirational words of Janusz Korczak. Collins Publishers.
- Lifton, Betty Jean (1988). The King of Children: The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak Collins Publishers.
- Mortkowicz-Olczakowa, Hanna (1961). Bunt wspomnień. Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
- Parenting Advice from a Polish Holocaust Hero from National Public Radio
- Lawrence Kohlberg (1981). The Philosophy of Moral Development: Education for Justice pp. 401-408. Harper & Row, Publishers, San Francisco.
External links
- Janusz Korczak Living Heritage Association
- Ojemba Productions presents 'KORCZAK' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2005!
- Pole Apart - The Life and Work of Janusz Korczak
- Korczak's Orphans opera by Adam SilvermanAdam SilvermanAdam Benjamin Silverman is a composer of contemporary classical music. His works include the opera Korczak's Orphans , chamber and orchestral music, and music for the theater...
and Susan Gubernat - I'm small, but important, German Documentary by Walther Petri and Konrad Weiss
- Lewowicki, Tadeusz: Janusz Korczak. (PDF-File, 43 KB) Prospects:the quarterly review of comparative education, vol. XXIV, no. 1/2, 1994, p. 37–48.
- Wiersz Kazimierza Dąbrowskiego "Wątek X - Janusz Korczak" Heksis 1/2010