Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Jonatan Burak - one of the Korczaks correspondents wrote in 1938 about the European Union and 3D TV







Jonatan Burak was his name. He was from Równe and in 1938 he was 12 years old. He wrote a story on the first page of Korczaks newspaper Maly Przeglad - 
The Little Review. He wrote about the future, about the year 1950. Why on the first page? Because he won the Little Review Winther contest for young writers.

Jonatan Burak won the Little Review Winther contest for young writers. The participants of the winter contest submitted 267 works, including 103 works regarding the first topic (“January 1st, 1950”), 61 on the second (“Iwas so warm then…”) and also 103 on the third one (“My friend”). The main prize – 25 złoty – was divided between the authors of the two winning submissions and a third book was added to the two book prizes. The cash prizes of 10 złoty each went to: Jonatan Burak, 12 years old from Równe Wołyńskie and Frania Rybińska, 14 years old from Warsaw.

His story is partly about... The European Union.
.
Jonatan wrote:

Right now, we are entering the
new year – 1950. Years have passed.
I grew up and matured, now I work
as the director of the Department
of Education of the 26th District of
Europe.
Older people still use to say things
like “Here’s where Germany used
to be, and that was France,” but we
consider ourselves to be a single great
nation, one big family and every human
being is our brother.


Jonatan wrote as well about television:
How different the television set was, compared to 1938!
They used to be giant and complicated devices, yet displayed murky,
distorted images. Nowadays they are aesthetic and small and yet they
can display everything in three dimensions!
I took a look at an electronic watch...


About the school system Jonatan Burak decided...


About the school system Jonatan Burak decided:
The school of education, formerly known as elementary school had eight grades, with first grade being somehow similar to a kindergarten. Children were taught languages – especially Esperanto, as the international language – old and classical languages, as well as their mother tongue. Every citizen had to graduate from such a school under the pain of forfeiting their citizen rights-
Then there are high schools (previously known as middle schools), as well as universities and academies for the most talented and intelligent students. Attending school was free and all the books, notebooks, bags and so on were supplied as necessary by the district authorities. Additionally, schools offered free breakfasts, recreation rooms and cinemas, open in the evening. The curriculum was accessible to everyone and the teachers were good, just and really loving their job. They all tried to take a look into the child’s soul, into every darkest corner and light it up with love and science. 

I wonder what happened to Jonatan Burak.
The same fate as other correspondents to The Little Review? Murdered during the Holocaust!