Korczaks "Diary" and "New Sources" were kept together in the Ghetto and also in the walls of Nasz Dom Orphanage!

Bird view by Luftwaffe taken before Warsaw Uprise in August 1944 of the area around Sienna and Śliska Street at the top of the photo and Plac Grzybowski and Twarda Street at the lower part. Korczaks Orphanage was at number 16 Sienna and 9 Śliska (marked with white numbers). There was a ghetto wall at Wielka Str and thereafter a fence along Sienna Street. Dom Sierot - Orphans Home main entrance was at 16 Sienna Street, however, mostly the second entrance to the orphanage, from 9 Śliska Street, was used.

Janusz Korczak and Pan Misza at 92 Krochmalna. On August 5th, 1942, Pan Misza saved Korczak's "Diary", "New Sources" and Korczak's spectacles from the building of the Dom Sierot orphanage. In this unique photo, apart from the flower (Monstera deliciosa) and the laughing children, you can see Korczak on the left and my father, Mr. Misza (Wasserman Wróblewski), looking straight into the camera.

Pan Misza mentioned when and how he collected and transported Korczak documents from the Orphan Home located at 16 Sienna/Śliska 9 to the Large Ghetto. First, in the evening, he carried them in two suitcases to Felek Grzyb's place, at Ostrowska Street (Photo before WWII).

There is only one missing link about the way of Korczak's "Diary", "New Sources" and Korczak spectacles from the building of the Dom Sierot orphanage at 16 Sienna/Śliska 9 to the Our Home orphanage run by Maryna Falska.

The exact route of these documents from the Little Ghetto to the Large Ghetto was told and described early. What is not known is when they reached Our Home in Bielany, most probably at the end of August 1942.

Pan Misza mentioned when and how he collected and transported Korczak documents from the Orphan Home at 16 Sienna/Śliska 9 to the Large Ghetto. First, in the evening, he carried them in two suitcases to Felek Grzyb's place, at Ostrowska Street. There he repacked them into one suitcase. He moved with that suitcase to several locations before the suitcase was sent outside the ghetto to Bielany (to Igor Newerly's flat and later to Maryna Falska´s Nasz Dom.

In Nasz Dom, the "Diary", "New Sources" and Korczak spectacles were bricked in a brick wall in the attic of the building. Documents stayed there throughout the war. It is likely that Igor Newerly with the help of "Nasz Dom" employee Władysław Cichosz and Sieradzki, brought the manuscript to light after WWII ended. How and when exactly this procedure took place is not known. As far I remember, Igor Newerly, when a bursa student had his room in the attic also kept his conversation with Korczak on the terras, now roof, between the front and the back of the "airplane building".

It was for sure Pan Misza, Wasserman Wroblewski was the one who arranged to smuggle documents and Korczak´s spectacles from Large Ghetto to Our Home at Bielany because he was also active in the group of smugglers for a long time*. One of his duties in the group was telephone contact with the smugglers at the Aryan side of the ghetto wall. When the right group of Polish and Jewish policemen whom Pan Misza knew, was on duty, he called known places to inform the group that the passage to the ghetto was possible. There was a coffee shop close to one of the gates where Pan Misza used to sit and watch the gate guards. That coffee shop had a phone.

Pan Misza likely telephoned Maria Falska or someone from her staff to inform them about the coming treasure. I asked my father once about how the suitcase ended at Nasz Dom. He said: I had it at several locations, he called them kwatery (lodgings - places he slept at), and thereafter the suitcase was transported out.

Now it is known how the "New Sources" reappeared and how they also disappeared. The official version is the story from the 1980s, about an unexpected finding (read New Sources) handed over in 1988 to the Korczak Association in Israel who thereafter handed it over to the Polish Association. However, this collection of archival materials, so-called new sources, never left Warszawa.

* My father was numerous times outside the ghetto. He knew several ways to get out and in. Also, my mother and her sister Krystyna were outside the ghetto several times. On one occasion they went together to the parish of Saint Barbara and their church (Parafia Św. Barbary, kościół Św. Apostołów Piotra i Pawła) at 51 Nowogrodzka Street and received a copy of the church birth records of someone else which was the start of their new identities.

Władysław Szlengel:

 

Rzeczy

 

Z Hożej i Wspólnej, i Marszałkowskiej

jechały wozy... wozy żydowskie...

               meble, stoły i stołki,

               walizeczki, tobołki,

               kufry, skrzynki i buty,

               garnitury, portrety,

               pościel, garnki, dywany

               i draperie ze ściany.

Wiśniak, słoje, słoiki,

               szklanki, plater, czajniki,

               książki, cacka i wszystko

               jedzie z Hożej na Śliską.

               W palcie wódki butelka

               i kawałek serdelka.

               Na wozach, rikszach i furach

               jedzie zgraja ponura...

A ze Śliskiej na Niską

znów jechało to wszystko.

               Meble, stoły i stołki,

               walizeczki, tobołki.

               Pościel, garnki – psze panów,

               ale już bez dywanów.

               Po platerach ni znaku

               i już nie ma wiśniaków,

garniturów ni butów,

i słoików, portretów.

Już zostały na Śliskiej

drobnosteczki te wszystkie,

w palcie wódki butelka

i kawałek serdelka.

Na wozach, rikszach i furach

jedzie zgraja ponura.

Opuścili znów Niską

i do bloków szło wszystko.

               Nie ma mebli i stołków,

               garnków oraz tobołków.

               Zaginęły czajniki,

               książki, buty, słoiki.

               Poszły gdzieś do cholery

               garnitury, platery.

               Razem w rikszę tak wal to...

               Jest walizka i palto,

               jest herbaty butelka,

               jest ogryzek karmelka.

               Na piechotę, bez fury

               idzie orszak ponury...

Potem z bloków na Ostrowską

jedzie drogą żydowską

               bez tobołów, tobołków

               i bez mebli czy stołków,

               bez dywanów, czajników,

               bez platerów, słoików,

               w ręce z jedną walizką

               ciepły szalik... to wszystko,

               jeszcze wody butelka

               i chlebaczek na szelkach,

               depcząc rzeczy – stadami

               nocą szli ulicami.

A z Ostrowskiej do bloku

szli w dzień chmurny o zmroku –

               walizeczka i chlebak,

               więcej teraz nie trzeba –

               równo... równo piątkami

               marszem szli ulicami.

Noce chłodne, dni krótsze,

jutro... może pojutrze...

na gwizd, krzyk albo rozkaz

znowu droga żydowska...

                               ręce wolne i tylko

                               woda – z mocną pastylką...

               Od Umszlagu wzdłuż miasta,

               hen, aż do Marszałkowskiej,

w pustych domach narasta

życie, życie żydowskie.

W porzuconych mieszkaniach

narzucone tobołki,

garnitury i kołdry,

i talerze i stołki,

tlą się jeszcze ogniska,

leżą łyżki bezczynne,

tam rzucone w pośpiechu

fotografie rodzinne...

Książka jeszcze otwarta,

list z półzdaniem... „Niedobra”,

szklanka wciąż nie dopita

oraz karty z pół robra.

Wiatr przez okno porusza

rękaw zimnej koszuli,

leży kołdra wgnieciona,

jakby ktoś się w nią wtulił,

leżą rzeczy bezpańskie,

stoi martwe mieszkanie,

aż pokoje zaludnią

nowi ludzie: Arianie...

Zamkną okna otwarte,

zaczną życie beztroskie

i zaścielą te łóżka

i te kołdry żydowskie,

i koszulę upiorą,

książki włożą do półki,

szklankę kawy wyleją,

robra skończą do spółki.

Tylko w jakimś wagonie

pozostanie to tylko:

Nie dopita butelka

z jakąś mocną pastylką...

A w noc grozy, co przyjdzie

po dniach kul oraz mieczy,

wyjdą z kufrów i domów

wszystkie żydowskie rzeczy.

I wybiegną oknami,

będą szły ulicami,

aż się zejdą na szosach

nad czarnymi szynami.

Wszystkie stoły i stołki,

i walizki, tobołki,

garnitury, słoiki,

i platery, czajniki,

i odejdą, i zginą,

nikt nie zgadnie, co znaczy,

że tak rzeczy odeszły,

i nikt ich nie zobaczy.

Lecz na stole sędziowskim

(jeśli tertis victi...)

pozostanie pastylka

jako corpus delicti.