Janusz Korczak press release

http://yad-vashem.org.il/about_yad/press_room/press_releases/06.08.08.html

This press release could and does say more than I could possibly write about and so it self-speaks.

Press Releases

Sixty-six Years Since the Murder of Janusz Korczak and the Children
Ceremony tomorrow at Yad Vashem with participation of Holocaust survivors and youth groups
(August 6, 2008 - Jerusalem) Tomorrow, Thursday, August 7, 2008, Yad Vashem will mark 66 years since the deportation to Treblinka of Janusz Korczak, Stefania Wilczynska, and the children of their orphanage, from the Warsaw Ghetto. Survivors, members of the Korczak society, and of the youth movements will participate in the memorial ceremony at 17:00 at Janusz Korczak Square at Yad Vashem. Prior to the ceremony, participants will meet at the Korczak memorial in the Polish Jewry Forrest, and then visit the “My Homeland: Holocaust Survivors in Israel” exhibit in Yad Vashem’s Exhibitions Pavilion.
Janusz Korczak was the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit, a Polish-born doctor, author and educator. Born in Warsaw to an assimilated Jewish family, Korczak dedicated his life to caring for children, particularly orphans. He believed that children should always be listened to and respected, and this belief was reflected in his work. He wrote several books for and about children, and broadcast a children's radio program. In 1912 Korczak became the director of a Jewish orphanage in Warsaw. When World War II broke out in 1939, Korczak first refused to accept the German occupation and heed their regulations (consequently spending time in jail). However, when the Jews of Warsaw were forced to move into a ghetto, Korczak refocused his efforts on the children in his orphanage. Despite offers from Polish friends to hide him on the "Aryan" side of the city, Korczak refused to abandon the children.
Stefania Wilczynska was born in 1886 in Poland and completed her studies at the University of Liège, Belgium. In 1909, she met Korczak and the two began working together. When World War I began, Korczak was recruited and Stefania remained in charge of running the orphanage, which had expanded and now housed some 150 children. In 1935, she visited Palestine and lived at Ein Harod until 1939. With the Nazi occupation, the members of Ein Harod arranged for her the possibility of leaving Poland, but she turned it down and moved to the ghetto along with Dr. Korczak and the children.
In August 1942, during a 2-month wave of deportations from the ghetto, the Nazis rounded up Korczak, Wilczynska and the 200 children of the orphanage. They marched in rows to the Umschlagplatz with Korczak in the lead. He and Stephania never abandoned the children, even to the very end. Korczak and the children were sent to Treblinka, where they were all murdered.

Janus Korczak and finding the stench of poverty now acclaimed

http://korczak.com/Biography/kap-6.htm

The Orphanage

Whenhe returned from war to Warsaw the following "developments " had occured as is the case of the ending of most war scenarios and the advent of retrenchment. Janusz the author was acclaimed as writing the Child of the Drawing Room as a new voice decrying child poverty. Warsaw was in revolutionary ferment, and Voice Magazine had been closed down.Jan Dawid and many intellectuals were in exile in Cracow.Some limited pyrrhic victories ensued such as the following:

• the scghool boycott forced the demoralized Russian government to allow private schools though not accredited to teach the Polish language.



• The Flying University now operated in the open to become the Free Polish University and gave courses in Polish.



• Korczak reclaimed his position as resident doctor in the Children's Hospital on Sliska Street



• Note the description of the Hospital (Quoted) The pride of the Jewish community, this tree-shaded one-story stucco hospital, built by the wealthy Bersohn and Bauman families, had seven wards, forty-three beds, an operating room, a lab, and an outpatient clinic that was open without charge to children of all faiths.



• His medical routine was exhaustive and he was not well paid and supplemented his income from other sources.


• His private practice was studded with Warsaw's prominent families. They76 lured him for raesons than other for treating their sick children and this made Korczak furious.
  
  

When he returned to Warsaw in early 1906, Lieutenant Henryk Goldszmit was
amazed to find that during his absence he had become famous as Janusz Korczak,
the author of Child of the Drawing Room. Critics proclaimed him a new voice in
Polish literature that had found "the color of poverty, its stench, its cry, and
its hunger." The public was anxious to meet the audacious young writer who had
been called away to war just when his star was rising and was now back to
illuminate their drawing rooms.
However, the renowned Janusz Korczak was no
more accessible than the unknown Henryk Goldszmit had been. Warsaw was still in
a state of revolutionary ferment and there was a lot of catching up to do on
what had happened in his absence. Voice magazine bad been closed down three
months earlier and Jan Dawid>> along with many other intellectuals, was in
exile in Cracow. But there had been some victories: the school boycott, far from
over, had at least forced the demoralized Russian government to allow the
opening of private schools, which, though not accredited, were permitted to
teach in the Polish language. The Flying University, now operating in the open
as the Society for Scientific Courses (later to become the Free Polish
University), was sanctioned to give courses in Polish, as were some departments
at Warsaw University. Declining all invitations except from intimate friends,
Korczak reclaimed the position he had left as resident doctor ("general drudge")
in the Children>>s Hospital on Sliska Street. The pride of the Jewish
community, this tree-shaded one-story stucco hospital, built by the wealthy
Bersohn and Bauman families, had seven wards, forty-three beds, an operating
room, a lab, and an outpatient clinic that was open without charge to children
of all faiths. He settled into a routine that included everything from battling
scarlet fever, typhus, measles, dysentery, and tuberculosis to cataloguing the
1,400-volume medical library. His mother, "a good old soul," ran the apartment
that came with the job on fifteen rubles a month. He supplemented his annual
salary of two hundred rubles (about one hundred dollars) with another hundred
from private practice and odd sums from his articles. His mother was shocked at
how often he took horse carriages to see patients: "A droshky to go to Zlota
Street? Twenty kopecks? Spendthrift!"
Although it was unusual for any but
the most wealthy Jewish doctors to have Gentile patients, Korczak>> s
private practice was soon studded with the names of Warsaw´s most prominent
families. A number of social hostesses began to realize that the only way to
lure Janusz Korczak to their homes was through a sick child. He tried to make
time to respond to their calls, but whenever he suspected it was Korczak the
author, rather than Goldszmit the doctor, who was being summoned, he could be
very rude. In one case, having been asked to come immediately to attend two
young brothers, he arrived to find the mother in a hostess gown. "Please wait a
moment, Doctor. I´ll send for the boys."" Are they out?>>´"Not far.
They´re playing in the park. Meanwhile-a cup of tea?""I can´t spare the time to
wait." "But Dr. Julian always . . . Have you been writing anything
lately?""Unfortunately, only prescriptions!"And he stormed out. The next day a
colleague phoned: &For God´s sake, my friend! They´re furious. You´ve made
enemies!""I don´t give a damn!"He was equally impatient with middle-class Jewish
mothers, who must have reminded him ofhis own. To one who insisted her child
should have tea, he snapped: "if your child needed to drink tea>> God
would have given you milk in one breast, and tea in the other." And to another
whose little darling was clearly overweight, he observed: <<´Even Rothschild doesn´t give his child more than five meals a day. "