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| Advertising pillar on Chłodna Street in the Warsaw Ghetto – ‘Cafe Sienna 16’ presenting ‘Great News’ – ‘Help a child with a generous hand’ – Give a Child Some Joy – Children's Day – Warsaw Ghetto. |
During the existence of the Warsaw Ghetto, cafés played an important social and cultural role. One of them, located on Sienna Street, was run by Tatiana Epstein, and its waitresses were women from wealthy families who had lost their fortunes. My aunt Krystyna Rozental also worked there.
The ‘Great News’ announced in May 1942 was probably some kind of cultural event (e.g., a performance, music competition, concert). I do not know whether it took place in the café itself on the ground floor or in the hall on the second floor, i.e., in Janusz Korczak's Orphanage!
The slogans ‘Help a child with a generous hand’, ‘Children's Day’, and ‘Give a child some joy’ refer to the celebration of ‘Children's Day’ in May 1942 (precisely on 5 May, the Jewish holiday of Lag ba-Omer). At that time, the management of Centos (Central Office of Orphan Care Institutions) organised a solemn ‘Children's Day’ celebration. It was accompanied by a ‘Public Collection’, i.e., a collection of money on the streets of the ghetto.
There were also plans to launch a ‘Children's Month’ on August 1, 1942, but these plans were thwarted by the start of the Great Liquidation of the Ghetto, which began on 22 July 1942.
