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The History of The First Janusz Korczak Digital Repositorium Stockholm - 1995, Univ. of South Florida - 2005 by Korczak Living Heritage Association
The year 1968 was momentous also for the Korczak Committee that ceased to exist in Warsaw in the same year. My father, Misza Wroblewski who followed Igor Neverly was its last chairman and he was very concerned about its continuation. With his own emigration, he succeded to push for the re-creation of the association in Sweden, first unofficially in 1969, and then officially in 1971 under the name "Korczak Living Hertitage Association" (KLHA) or in Swedish "Föreningen för Janusz Korczak Levande Arv".
The Swedish KLHA represents a direct continuation of the Polish Korczak Committee shut down in 1968, including its international connections. After the 1968/1969 Jewish exodus, only under considerable international pressure and with delay of a few years, the authorities in Poland convened a new "Korczak Association".
My father, Michal Wasserman Wróblewski (Pan Misza) worked in the Orphanage (Dom Sierot) from 1931, his university days, until the last day of Korczak in the Warsaw Ghetto, August 5, 1942. Through lucky turn of events, he was the only councellor from the Orphanage who was keft alive and it gave him a chanse to secure for posterity what was left of Korczak's writings and his glasses.
The Thoughts of the Old Doctor exerted enormous influence on the Swedish pedagogy, ethics, and educational concepts. Korczak's ideas gave rise to the Convention of the Rights of a Child adopted by the UN. We are often caught unaware of the extent of the influence of Korczak's work on the contemporary culture and customs of today's Sweden.
My father's work was directed at securing and transfering Korczak's legacy for future generations. He wrote articles, delivered lectures, and edited a series of reports under the title, Pedagogy in Eastern Europe". He died in 1993 in Stockholm.
The work of the KLHA did not stop with the passing of my father, its founder. I have actively inserted myself in its work. Memoires of my father, "Seven Good Years" were published in Sweden, both in Swedish and in Polish. The Association that I chair has its place on Facebook and continues to popularize the perona of Korczak and his work.
Many of the articles, documents, and photographs can be found on the pages of Fb under the Swedish name of the organization: "Föreningen för Janusz Korczak Levande Arv" or on the blog: jimbaotoday.blogspot.com
Regards, Roman Wasserman Wróblewski
