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| Dr. Izaak Eliasberg and his wife Stella brought Korczak to the Orphans' Home at 2 Franciszkańska Street (photo). |
A beautiful salon legend has grown around the first meeting between Janusz Korczak and Stefania Wilczyńska, uncritically repeated by post-war biographies (including Hanna Mortkowicz-Olczakowa in 1949 and Joanna Olczak-Ronnikier). According to this mythologized version, Miss Stefa "was already there" at the shelter of the "Pomoc dla Sierot" (Help for Orphans) Society, and the young doctor Henryk Goldszmit stumbled upon it by chance, invited by Stella Eliasberg to a children's creative evening dedicated to Maria Konopnicka. Another version is presented by Magdalena Kicińska, who quotes Stella Eliasberg’s recollection that young Stefania came to Franciszkańska Street to ask for a job, to which Eliasberg agreed: "even though I did not trust her."
A rigorous analysis of chronology, dates, and a unique émigré source—the wartime biography of Korczak titled “The Doctor Remained” by Paulina Appenszlak (Tel Aviv, 1944)—mercilessly debunks this myth. The truth about the beginnings of this legendary duo is far more organic, and a key, though forgotten, role was played by Stefa's sister—Miss Julia Wilczyńska.
The Witness Strikes Back: Paulina Appenszlak’s Account (1944)
In contrast to post-war accounts written second-hand, Paulina Appenszlak (later the editor of the "EWA" weekly) was a direct eyewitness to those events. As a small, 8–9-year-old girl (born at the turn of 1899 and 1900), she regularly sat at the common table in the shelter. She and her classmates ended up there under the wings of their geography teacher—Julia Wilczyńska.
In the first chapter of her wartime book, Appenszlak sketches a completely different alignment of forces:
"At five o'clock everyone sat in the great hall around the table; each received a cup of hot milk and two slices of challah. Janusz Korczak, Julia, Stefania Wilczyńska, us, and those foreign children. (...) Korczak was then called »Doctor Henryk Goldszmit«. (...) The young doctor in those days (...) appeared there every day at five o'clock to examine the children and play with them."
A clear conclusion emerges from this description: Korczak was not a one-time guest at an academy honoring Konopnicka. He was a regular fixture at Franciszkańska. He co-created that universe as a doctor. Who, then, brought Miss Stefa there, and when?
The Chronology of Facts: Debunking the Myth
Let us organize the hard, undeniable dates from the years 1907–1908, which ultimately shatter the post-war literary narrative:
- September 1907 – Summer 1908: Henryk Goldszmit is away on a year-long medical study trip to Berlin. He is physically absent from Warsaw.
- Turn of 1907 / 1908: At the exact same time, the independent "Pomoc dla Sierot" Society officially registers in Warsaw. The wretched, extremely cramped shelter is moved from the extreme conditions at Dzika 5 Street to a new, much better address—Franciszkańska 2.
- Summer 1908: Korczak returns from Berlin and immediately leaves to work as a counselor at summer colonies in Wilhelmówka. It is only in this year that he officially joins the newly formed "Pomoc dla Sierot" Society as a member.
- Autumn 1908: After his summer trips, the 30-year-old Dr. Goldszmit begins regular grassroots work at Franciszkańska 2. Exactly at the same time, 22-year-old Stefania Wilczyńska returns to Poland from her natural science studies abroad.
It is in the autumn of 1908 that the paths of Korczak and Stefa cross permanently. Stefania is full of ideals but lacks a foothold in Warsaw. Her sister, Julia Wilczyńska, is already actively volunteering at Franciszkańska 2 (bringing her students there, including the young Paulina Appenszlak).
Seeing the energy of her sister returning from abroad, Julia simply leads Stefa to Franciszkańska 2 and introduces her to this world. Stella Eliasberg and her husband, Dr. Izaak Eliasberg, had previously brought Korczak to the Orphans' Home at Franciszkańska 2. However, it was Julia Wilczyńska who connected these two towering figures. It was Julia Wilczyńska who arranged this meeting, bringing her younger sister to the Orphans' Home, where Dr. Goldszmit was already the leading physician and caregiver. Four years later, in 1912, this duo would take charge of the newly built structure at Krochmalnej 92.
Epilog: The Haunting Circle of Topography (5 Dzika Street in 1942)
This story has a deep, almost metaphysical and painful epilogue written into Warsaw's topography, a theme I return to systematically on my blog (see the 2012 article).
The first, earliest children who came under the care of the Orphans' Help Society at the beginning of the century huddled in the partitioned rooms of the corner building at Dzika 5 Street (corner of Dzielna Street). From there, in search of sun and fresh air, the Society sent them to summer colonies in a rented house in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, eventually giving them a permanent roof at Franciszkańska 2.
The pre-war address of the orphanage, Dzika 5, sat at the very corner of the intersection with Dzielna Street. History has come full circle. This same characteristic building was captured in German photographs from the Ghetto. At the exact same point in space where the grand, love-filled idea of caring for Jewish orphans was born at the old Dzika 5 at the beginning of the 20th century, on August 5, 1942, Janusz Korczak, Stefania Wilczyńska, and their 239 children walked past this building, driven by Germans and Ukrainians toward the Umschlagplatz, to the cattle cars bound for Treblinka. The site of their first refuge became a silent witness and the stage of their final journey to death.
Before the deportation column turned into Zamenhof Street, it likely passed by the building at 5–7 Nowolipki Street, which housed the editorial office of Korczak's newspaper, Mały Przegląd.
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| This unique photograph from 1941 depicts Jewish residents on Dzika Street / Wildstrasse (named Zamenhofa Street after 1930) in the Warsaw Ghetto. The first cross street (with tram tracks) branching off to the right is Dzielna Street. The next cross street closing off the vista is Nowolipki Street, featuring the building that housed the editorial office of Janusz Korczak’s Mały Przegląd (Little Review). The photograph was taken by Heinrich Jöst, a sergeant (Feldwebel) in the German Wehrmacht. The picture was captured precisely on September 19, 1941—on his 43rd birthday, when he used his day off to enter the ghetto area with a camera. The house marked number 5 housed the shelter taken over by the "Pomoc dla Sierot" (Help for Orphans) Society. It was from this very house that the children moved to 2 Franciszkańska Street. From this same building, my mother, Lunia Rozental Wasserman Wróblewski, witnessed the deportation column of the Orphans' Home, with Korczak leading the way. The yellow house at the end of the street is the building where the editorial office of Korczak's newspaper "The Little Review" was located - 5-7 Nowolipki Street. |
