Dom Sierot Korczaka i Pińsk

Dedykowane na urodziny dla Halinki-  Haliny Birenbaum

"Dom Sierot Korczaka i Pińsk".

Ziomek mojego ojca Ryszard Kapuściński rozpoczyna "Imperium" nawiązując do do Herodota, który w "Dziejach” wspomina ludy mieszkające nad Morzem Poleskim. Podobnie rozpoczyna Małgorzata Szejnert "Usypać góry. Historie z Polesia” - Mieszkańcy tej bagnistej krainy, w czasach roztopów zamieniającej się w ogromne rozlewisko, posiedli – według Herodota – umiejętność zmieniania się w wilki.
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Ryszard Kapuściński pisał
"...z radością wracam do Pińska.
Droga to niedaleka, można wyjechać z Warszawy popołudniem i na wieczór być nad Piną. Krążę po tych kilku ocalałych uliczkach, odwiedzam cmentarz – tam pochowana jest moja babcia. Idę też zawsze na Suworowa, dawniej Pereca, a jeszcze wcześniej Błotną. Patrzę na dom, gdzie spędziłem najwcześniejsze lata. Patrzę na łagodne wzgórze, na którym leży Pińsk. Dawno, dawno temu, w porze roztopów, widziałem stamtąd morze bez granic, sięgające po horyzont. Dopiero później dowiedziałem się, że Pina wpada do Jasiołdy, ta do Prypeci, Prypeć do Dniepru, Dniepr płynie zaś do Morza Czarnego. Gdy w Pińsku wsiądzie się na łódkę, można dotrzeć na koniec świata".
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Małgorzata Szejnert w "Usypać góry. Historie z Polesia” opisuje osoby bliskie Korczakowi, m.in. Izaka Eliasberga którego rodzina należała do najbogatszych rodzin w Pińsku.
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Tak że to nie przypadkowo wielu bursistów w Domu Sierot na Krochmalnej było właśnie z Pińska. M.in. Ryfka Boszes która ściągnęła z Pińska mojego ojca. Pieniądze na budowę Domu Sierot, chyba częściowo też z Pińska.

Janusz Korczak and Computerized Book Creators - Ringelblum Archives

Computerized Book Creators allows one to create the books in seconds using "digital brain". The are several books created in that way.

What about letting computers, if peoples and grants are missing (?), to make the book about Korczak in Ringelblum Archives documents. 

I found that Korczak is mentioned in 17 documents, some of them well known and some of them unknown.

One of the 17 documents connected to Janusz Korczak/Henryk Goldszmit from Ringelblum Archive. At this address, "Kitchen" the secret kibbutz of Chaluc organization was housed. It was run a.o. by Zivia (Cywia) Lubetkin and Yitzhak (Ichak) Cukierman. There was a regular lecture program run at 34 Dzielna street almost every day. Janusz Korczak had a lecture at the kibbutz on January 18, 1942 and Stefa Wilczyńska on January 20, 1942.

This special invitation was written by Stefa Wilczyńska and send by the messenger to three persons at Dzielna. It is not known who was the third person on this invitation - P. (Pani - Mrs) Sara.  34 is number of Dzielna street and 8 is the flat number where Lubetkin and Cukierman lived..

Not known (for me) document in Ringelblum Archives.

Opening of Ringelblum Archives after WWII.

Wajngarten knew well Korczak. He was saved by Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk - Curaçao visas

Yerachmiel Wajngarten (1902 – 1982) was Janusz Korczak’s close friend that started his cooperation with Korczak when he arrived to Warszawa from his home town Sierpc (My grand-grand-grandparents lived in Sierpc as well). Wajngarten was accepted as bursa student at Dom Sierot and later he was the deputy editor of the gazette Mały Przegląd (The Little Review).

Wajngarten mentioned Janusz Korczak in the book written in Yiddish A velt in flamen, milkhome iberlebungen (The World in Flames. The War Experience) that was published in Montreal as early as in 1942 and printed with the financial help of a group of the author’s friends from New York who came from his native town Sierpc, Poland.

Wajngarten is also the author of the book Janusz Korczak, the Jewish Martyr. A Memoir of His Life and Time (in Yiddish and Hebrew.) Both books are difficult to find and the translation do not exist.

In the newspaper Alim Wajngarten interviewed Korczak about Zionism and Korczaks presence in the two World Zionist Congresses in 1899 and in 1913.

Wajngarten was saved thanks to Japanese Consul General in Kovno, Chiune Sugihara. 

Another person associated with Korczak that got this type of Sugiharas visa was Marta Heyman, dotter of Korczaks friend and co-worker Izaak Eliasberg (1860-1929). Marta Heymans sister was Helena Syrkus (1900-1982). 

Dr. Izaak Eliasberg met young Korczak at the Berson-Bauman Hospital in Warsaw. Eliasberg was a chairman of the "Pomoc Dla Sierot" [Orphans Aid] Society, that supported Janusz Korczak's activities by providing funding.
Dr. Eliasberg served as the Society's chairman during the years 1913 - 1929. He passed away on June 1, 1929. It is probably due to the Eliasbergs merchant connections with his grandparents (Lurie and Eliasberg) home city - Pinsk that resulted in numerous bursa students (a.o Ryfka Boszes and thereafter my father, Misza Wasserman-Wroblewski were working and Dom Sierot.

Yerachmiel Wajngarten and Marta Heyman born Eliasberg were saved thanks to Japanese Consul General in Kovno, Chiune Sugihara.  Their names are listed among the 2200 others that got this type of visa.

The occupation and division of Poland by Germany on September 1st, 1939 was followed by the invasion from east by Soviet troops. Several millions of Polish citizens ended in two different zones. Among them Yerachmiel Wajngarten that ended on the Soviet occupied territories.

In order to leave the the Soviet territories, actually the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, the war refugees needed to obtain transit visas, thus, leaving Soviet for another country. As Soviet had a border with Japan such visas could be issued by the Japanese Consul General in Kovno Chiune Sugihara. Mr. Sugihara fully understood the situation of Jewish refugees and agreed to issue the visas on the condition that the people promised not to stay in Japan and had to prove their Polish citizenship. In the summer of 1940, when most of the foreign consulates already had been closed, the Dutch Honorary Consul Jan Zwartendijk, having the permission from his chief L. P. J. de Decker, agreed to issue the so-called “Curaçao visas”, which showed the Caribbean islands as the final destination of the war refugees.

Sugiharas visas were valid for little more than travel across Russia and a 14-day stay in Japan. The final destination of Curaçao in the Caribbean was put on paper because it did not require an entry visa, but no one ever really intended to reach the island. Having obtained the visas in Kovno, the refugees still needed to get permissions to leave the Soviet. After that they just needed to buy a Trans-Siberian Railway ticket and were fully set for the long journey to Vladivostok. From Vladivostok the refugees were usually arriving by ship to the Japanese port city of Tsuruga. Delegates of JEWCOM from Kobe gave the refugees a warm welcome and paid for their transport from Tsuruga to Kobe.

Korczak - Wajngarten - Chiune Sugihara - Jan Zwartendijk - Förintelsen

Korczak - Wajngarten - Chiune Sugihara - Jan Zwartendijk

Hur räddades Janusz Korczaks vän och medarbetare Jerachmiel Wajngarten.

Året var 1940. Tyskland och Sovjet delade Polens territorium i september 1939. Många polska medborgare som flydde österut ville fly vidare, undan Förintelsen. 

Genom ett unikt samarbete mellan en japansk och en holländsk konsul räddades tusentals Judar. Den japanske konsuln Sugihare utfärdade ett transitvisum (således ut ur Sovjet) till Japan varifrån de skulle vidare till den holländska ön Curaçao i Västindien precis utanför Venezuelas kust. Den slutliga destinationen intygades av Jan Zwartendijk, den holländske konsuln som stämplade in en lämplig stämpel med Curaçao som slutdestination. Annars så tillämpade Curaçao inga inreseviseringar.

Således så krävdes det tre dokument: 
Intyg att man var polsk medborgare, 
Japanskt transitvisum från Sugihare och 
Slutdestinationvisum till Curaçao från Zwartendijk.

Första dokument för att kunna överhuvudtaget ansöka om transitvisum var bekräftelse att man var polsk medborgare.

De typiska två viseringarna från den japanske och holländske konsuln.

En del tycks ha ändrat slutdestinationen i sina transitvisum från Curaçao till Palestina och Irak.

Korczaks vän Jerachmiel Wajngarten och Marta Heyman dotter till den framlidne Izaak Eliasberg, räddades just på det sättet. De kom dock aldrig till Curaçao men fick fristad i Kanada och överlevde Förintelsen.

Curaçao är numera ett autonomt område inom Konungariket Nederländerna.





The occupation and division of Poland by Germany on September 1st, 1939 was followed by the invasion from east by Soviet troops. Several millions of Polish citizens ended in two different zones. Among them Yerachmiel Wajngarten  that ended on the Soviet occupied territories.

Yerachmiel Wajngarten (1902 – 1982) was Korczak’s close friend that started his cooperation with Korczak when he arrived to Warszawa from his home town Sierpc. He was accepted as bursa student at Dom Sierot and later he was the deputy editor of the gazette Mały Przegląd (The Little Review).

In order to leave the the Soviet territories, actually the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, the war refugees needed to obtain transit visas, thus, leaving Soviet for another country. As Soviet had a border with Japan such visas could be issued by the Japanese Consul General in Kovno Chiune Sugihara. Mr. Sugihara fully understood the situation of Jewish refugees and agreed to issue the visas on the condition that the people promised not to stay in Japan and had to prove their Polish citizenship. In the summer of 1940, when most of the foreign consulates already had been closed, the Dutch Honorary Consul Jan Zwartendijk, having the permission from his chief L. P. J. de Decker, agreed to issue the so-called “Curaçao visas”, which showed the Caribbean islands as the final destination of the war refugees.

Sugiharas visas were valid for little more than travel across Russia and a 14-day stay in Japan. The final destination of Curaçao in the Caribbean was put on paper because it did not require an entry visa, but no one ever really intended to reach the island. Having obtained the visas in Kovno, the refugees still needed to get permissions to leave the Soviet. After that they just needed to buy a Trans-Siberian Railway ticket and were fully set for the long journey to Vladivostok. From Vladivostok the refugees were usually arriving by ship to the Japanese port city of Tsuruga. Delegates of JEWCOM from Kobe gave the refugees a warm welcome and paid for their transport from Tsuruga to Kobe.

Two persons associated with Korczak got this type of Sugiharas visa Yerachmiel Wajngarten and Marta Heyman.  
With these visas, Jews were able to obtain exit visas from the Soviet government and take the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok, destination Tsuruga, Japan. 

None of the visa holders actually reached Curaçao. There is, however Jewish colony after Jewish settlers in 1634.

Wajngarten mentioned Korczak in the book written in Yiddish A velt in flamen, milkhome iberlebungen (The World in Flames. The War Experience) that was published in Montreal as early as in 1942 and printed with the financial help of “a group of the author’s friends from New York who came from his native town Sierpc, Poland.” Wajngarten is also the author of the book Janusz Korczak, the Jewish Martyr. A Memoir of His Life and Time (in Yiddish and Hebrew.) Both of these books are difficult to find.

Jerahmiel (Jerzy) Wajngarten active writer - Korczaks friend

Czasopismo Alim - Liście

Wywiad Wajngantera z Korczakiem w czasopismie  Alim wydawanym po hebrajsku w Warszawie.

Korczak w wywiadzie o literaturze i poezji opisuje również dwa Kongresy syjonistyczne w których brał udział, 3-ci Kongres Syjonistyczny w 1899 roku w Bazylei i 11-ty w 1913 roku w Wiedniu.

...Jeśli chodzi o ruch syjonistyczny, zetknąłem się z nim na kongresie, w którym uczestniczyłem jako gość (1899). W tym czasie byłem jeszcze młody i niedoświadczony (student medycyny po 1-szym roku). Czułem się nieswojo a ten ruch syjonistyczny, jego program wydawał mi się tematem tylko dla dziewcząt. Wtedy czułem, że było wielu, którzy byli głupi, ale entuzjastyczni. Niemniej jednak, od tego czasu interesowałem się wszystkim związanym z syjonizmem. Obecnie moje zainteresowanie Kongresem (w Wiedniu 1913) jest prawie tak duże, jak entuzjazm podczas (poprzedniego) Kongresu w Bazylei (1899). Moim zdaniem syjonizm opuścił już etap utopii, obecnie jest w trakcie wdrażania i pracy. 

Poezja - entuzjazm, przeminęły, 

przychodzi proza - a więc praca".

Jerahmiel Wajngarten autor podreczników szkolnych w Polsce przedwojennej.

Books by Korczaks friend, Jerahmiel Wajngarten.  Wajngarten share the same profile of "productivity" that ends during the Holocaust. It is so sad that there are no books about Wajngarten. He wrote in Polish and in Hebrew.

Books by Korczaks friend, Jerahmiel Wajngarten. 

Wajngarten share the same profile of "productivity" that ends during the Holocaust. It is so sad that there are no books about Wajngarten.  He wrote in Polish and in Hebrew.

Sabotage against Korczak-meeting in Warszawa

Sabotage against Korczak-meeting

As I thought for many, many years that Korczak was my grandfather (the only pictures we had hanging on the walls in Warszawa were of Him) so it is likely that he got today grand-grand- grand....child at 08.58 AM.

The next one, my grandchild, I hope the girl as well, will come in 2 weeks time.

That´s how my daughters make me to stay in Stockholm and not go to Warszawa