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P«|« 12 THU SOUTHtNN ISHAhUTt Kfbrutry U, 1*7*
Legendary
Tragedy ended heroic struggle for survival
of Dr. Korczak and his 200 Ghetto orphans
ky Gitta Sflbcr
The time—Wednesday. the 5th
of August. IkC in the middle of
World II. The place, the
hiru* Ghetto a Na/i-occupmd
Poland An elderly man. holding a
child in hn arms. marches cahnh
at the head of about 200 children of
the Jewish Ghetto through the
streets that lead to the asaemhh
point. *T mschlagplatz." from
where Jews are seal to their death
m the fas chambers of T rrhhal 1
The man was Dr. Jsanrr Korczak
aad this was the tragsc ead of ha
herosc struggle far the physical
survival of his 200 homeless Jewish
orphans m the Ghetto
The fa mo as Jew is h-Polish
author and eminent pedagogue,
whose hundredth anniversary is
dow being universally marked,
became director of a Jewish
orphanage in 1911 and retained the
post for the rest of his life, dev oting
himself entirely to children.
With the rise of Hiher and the
growth of anti-Semitism in
Poland, Korczak's Jewish
consciousness deepened and he
took a growing interest in Eretz
Israel becoming a member of the
Jewish Agency leadership. He
visited the Holy Land twice—in
1934 and in 1936—staying for
some time at kibbutz Ein Harod.
In 1939. Poland was invaded by
the Germans Though he was a
physician and 61 years of age,
ICorczak put on his uniform. This
was the fourth war in which he
participated.
The Vans at oner different laied
between the Jews aad the rest of
the population la the tugger
centers, they concentrated the
Jews in ghettos
In 1940 the orphanage was
transferred to the Warsaw Ghetto
into which the Nans herded over
half a million Jews and sealed them
off from the outside world.
Mortahty soared as a result of
overcrowding, unemploy
ment. starvation, cold and
epademars By the samaacr of 1942.
100.000 Jews had died in the
Ghetto proper Consequently, the
Ghetto area was continually
narrowed and the nqdimay had to
move three times so as to stay
within its confines
Korczak tried to protect his
children as much as was humanly
possible under these horrifying
conditions, determined that life
must go on. The children
continued to study and played
their usual games. Despite
constant Nazi surveillance,
cultural and social activities
continued in the Ghetto.
Korczak’s biggest problem was
how to keep his wards alive and
well-nourished. He wrote in his
diary: “1 came hack confused from
making the rounds. Seven visits,
conversations, flights of steps,
interrogations. The result: five
zlotys and a pledge of five others
every month. And on that I'm
supposed to keep 200 souls alive!"
And from the Warsaw Ghetto
diary of Adam Czerniakov: “...he
(Korczak) asked Wedel (the owner
of a chocolate factory ) to sell him
fifty kilograms of beans When
Wedd apologised that be was
forbiddea to scfl u> Jews. Korczak
aaswreed: la that case, let me have
them as a grft ~
Meanwhile, the stage was being
set for the Nazi plan of physical
extermination of European Jewry,
graced in Nazi terminology with
the name “the final solution to the
Jewish question."
Repeated endeavors, including a
last-minute effort before his death,
were made by Polish admirers to
have Korczak agree to be
smuggled out of the Ghetto. He
refused disdainfully to abandon
his charges.
And so came the 5th of August,
1942. Korczak receives the Nazi
deportation order. He tells his
children to get ready for a picnic in
the country. They leave the
orphanage and walk for a mile,
their Last walk, led by Korczak and
his faithful assistant of many years.
Stefama Wilczynska. All along,
the adults give hope and courage to
their wards. Now, they reach the
“Umschlagplatz" where the cattle
trucks wait for them, bound for the
Treblinka death camp.
An eye-witness who worked at
the first aid station in the
“Umschlagplatz" recounts: “...they
kept packing them in and there was
still room left. Urged on by the
whips, more and more people were
jammed into the can. Suddenly
Schmerling—the sadistic Ghetto
police officer whom the Germans
had put in charge of the
Janus/ Korczak is memorialized by this monument in Jerusalem's
Yad Vashem by Baruch Sakrier. a young immigrant from the Soviet
Union.
“Umschlagplatz"—commanded
that the children be brought to the
cars. Korczak went to their head.
I’ll never forget that sight to the
end of my life. It wasn't just a man
entering a railway carnage —it was
a silent but organized protest
against the murderers, a march the
like of which no human eye had
ever seen before. The children went
four-by-four. Korczak went first
with his head high, leading a
child with each hand. The second
groqp was led by ,Stefi
Wilczynska. They went to their
death with a look full of contempt
for their assassins. When the
Ghetto policemen saw Korczak.
they snapped to attention and
saluted. ‘Who is that man T asked
the Germans.”
Who, indeed? In his hfe. Janus/
Korczak was a legend and in his
death he seemed to be saita. At al
events in the indescribably tragic
period of the Holocaust, Korczak
was an authentic Jewish hero
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