About

Janusz Korczak (1878-1942)

Janusz Korczak is the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit. He was a well-known pediatrician, educators and writer in Warsaw before World War II. As a child, it was common for him to play with disadvantaged children of the community. These childhood experiences shaped him into the caring person he became.

During his lifetime Korczak wrote books for children, ran a summer camp, published a children’s newspaper, was a school principal and served as an expert witness in a district court for minors.

In 1911, he became director of an orphanage for Jewish children in Warsaw, organizing it as a self-contained mini-republic in which the children formed their own parliament, courts and a newspaper.

While born of Jewish parents, Korczak was an agnostic who chose not to force religion on children. Jewish children between the ages of seven and fourteen lived at the orphanage while attending Polish public school and government-sponsored Jewish schools, known as “Sabbath” schools.

Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939. The Warsaw Ghetto was established by the Germans in November 1940 and the orphanage was moved inside its walls. Korsczak received many offers to be freed through the Polish underground, Zegota, but he always chose to remain with “his” children.

In August 1942, Korczak, along with 195 children and a dozen staff were rounded up by the Nazis for deportation. While being marched to the train that would take them to Treblinka, they sang and carried flags of King Matt (a favorite character in one of Korczak’s children’s stories). There were unaware of their fate. None survived.