.

However the essence of this legend reflects the real truth about Korczak - that he was a solid moral authority for all those who looked up to him for guidance and hope.

Author: Agnieszka Witkowska (Korczakianum, pracownia Muzeum Warszawy), 2012,
https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-korczak

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Medicine and Pedagogy

In the years 1900-1915 he was an active member of the Summer Camp Society (later he collaborated with the Polish Culture Society and the Warsaw Hygiene Society amongst others).

During his studies, he created his first novel Children of the Streets, which was published in 1901. He envisioned a world in which children structured their own world and became experts in their own matters. In May 1942 he began writing a diary which described the dreadful reality of the Nazi occupation.

Korczak consciously turned down opportunities which could have saved his own life: he didn't accept help to leave the ghetto and going into hiding, which was offered to him by his friends and on deportation day, in the morning of the 5th of August 1942, during the Grossaktion (the main stage of exterminating the population of the Warsaw ghetto) - he refused abandoning the children and workers of the House of Orphans.

The rise of anti-Semitism in the 1930's restricted only his activities with Jews.

In 1934 and 1936, Korczak visited Palestine and was influenced by the kibbutz movement. He traveled around the country, but he mainly observed the pedagogical work carried out amongst the children in the kibbutzim and researched the potential and possibilities of Jewish life developing there.

Last March

During the first days of the II World War, together with fellow tutors and co-workers he was present at the House of Orphans day and night.

In the summer of 1940 he managed to organize summer camp for the children at a branch of the House of Orphans in the Wawer district of Warsaw. Dr. Korczak is credited in Europe with the introduction of progressive orphanages designed as democratic republics; he founded the first national children’s newspaper, trained teachers in what we now call moral education, and worked in juvenile courts defending children’s rights.

His classics, King Matt the First and King Matt on the Deserted Island, enchanted children around the world. These experiences were the basis for the following pedagogical work and resulted in two books: Mośki, Joski, Srule (published in 1910) and Józki, Jaśki i Franki (published in 1911).

In March 1905 Henryk Goldszmit obtained his PhD and began working at the Jewish Berson and Bauman Hospital for Children in Śliska 51 street in Warsaw.

The last issue of Mały Przegląd was published on Friday, the 1st of September 1939.

In the twenties Korczak began collaborating with institutions educating teachers and tutors such as: the National Seminar for Teachers of Jewish Religion and the Study of Social-Educational Work at the Free Polish Higher School. In 1910 or 1911 he stayed in London for a month, where he visited the local schools and nursing homes.

In that time he took up new responsibilities, he worked as an expert witness in children's cases at the District Court and as a foreign document clerk for the National Health Service amongst others. In Kiev he met Maria (Maryna) Falska, with whom he later collaborated. He himself, as both a Jew and a Pole, felt that he had two nationalities.

Early Years

In the eighth year of his life Henryk began attending the Augustyn Szmurło primary school in Warsaw, which was known to be quite strict.

Later he studied at the Praga Secondary School (Gimnazjum Praskie), where classes were held in Russian. He did, however, have a real interest in literature, to which he devoted all of his free time.