One of the documents my father "Pan Misza" rescued following the deportation of Janusz Korczak’s Dom Sierot was a carbon-paper typescript copy of a letter Korczak sent to his friends at 34 Dzielna Street. For years, I have returned to this specific letter, answering Korczak’s own plea: to decipher it. This process has spanned more than three decades, and yet I still feel that some of Korczak's most profound, hidden ideas remain just beyond my reach.
Why did Korczak ask Chalutzim to "decipher" it? Korczak often used a "coded" or poetic style to bypass the literal and speak to the soul. By asking his young friends, future ZOB leaders, to decipher this, he was challenging them to realize that "Power" (Siła) and "Faith" (Wiara) are not just words, but tools that require "searching for error and unconscious lies."
January 30, 1942. A note to the chalutzim, 34 Dzielna St. [?]
To the dear chalutzim, for a free moment to decipher.
I want, because I love. – I want, therefore I know how. I want, therefore I can. – I want, because I believe.
I want, because I love. – I want, therefore I know how. I want, therefore I can. – I want, because I believe.
I want only for myself, because for myself only, not for others – do I love, know, know how, want, and believe.
My love, my knowledge, my power, and my faith – in faithful service to You and with You, in arduous work for You, on the weary path to You and toward You.
I know, and I believe.
How beautiful is knowledge when it wavers, when it does not trust itself, when it searches within and around itself for error, neglect, and even unconscious lies.
How beautiful is faith without doubt, without reservation, without the fear that I might be wrong.
My love, my knowledge, my power, and my faith – in faithful service to You and with You, in arduous work for You, on the weary path to You and toward You.
I know, and I believe.
How beautiful is knowledge when it wavers, when it does not trust itself, when it searches within and around itself for error, neglect, and even unconscious lies.
How beautiful is faith without doubt, without reservation, without the fear that I might be wrong.
Shalom
One particular sentence was especially challenging in his note:My love, my knowledge, my power, and my faith – in faithful service to You and with You, in arduous work for You, on the weary path to You and toward You.
The Offering of Self - Torch
Korczak is an old, physically exhausted man. By listing his "love, knowledge, power, and faith," he is handing over his entire life's "capital" to these young pioneers. He is telling the future leaders of the Uprising: Everything I have built as a pedagogue and a human now belongs to your cause.
In the context of January 1942, this sentence represents Janusz Korczak’s spiritual and ideological "passing of the torch" to the young resistance fighters of the ZOB (Jewish Fighting Organization).
At the time, the He-Chalutz and Dror headquarters at 34 Dzielna St. was the epicenter of young Zionists who were transitioning from social work to underground military planning."...in arduous work for You...": The word "arduous" (żmudnej) highlights that the resistance was not just a heroic moment of battle, but a grueling, daily labor of organizing, smuggling, and preparing in the face of starvation.
"...on the weary path to You and toward You.": This is the most profound part."To You" (do Was): He is physically walking toward their headquarters, joining their ranks.
"Toward You" (ku Wam): This has a messianic or historical meaning. He sees these young Chalutzim as the future of the Jewish people. Even if he does not live to see a free world, his path leads toward the future they represent.
In January 1942, as the "Great Action" (deportations) loomed, this note was his way of saying: "My life's work is now your armor." He was validating their path of resistance, even if it differed from his lifelong pacifism.
Janusz Korczak’s note (January 30, 1942), to the Chalutzim at 34 Dzielna St., represented a spiritual and ideological 'passing of the torch' to the future leaders of the ZOB. By offering them his 'love, knowledge, power, and faith,' Korczak was providing his moral blessing to the young resistance fighters, transforming his lifelong pedagogical capital into their existential armor.
This gesture is even more profound when considering the specific timing: during this period, Korczak was visiting the Main Shelter at 39 Dzielna St., a place known as the 'dying room' (Umieralnia) due to its catastrophic conditions. Despite his failing health, Korczak wrote to the Judenrat offering to take over this 'terrible place' and work there two days a week throughout February 1942. His message to the young pioneers was not just theoretical; it was a demonstration of supreme 'power and faith' in the face of total despair, bridging the gap between his educational mission and the underground's preparation for the ultimate struggle for dignity.
At the time, the He-Chalutz and Dror headquarters at 34 Dzielna St. was the epicenter of young Zionists who were transitioning from social work to underground military planning."...in arduous work for You...": The word "arduous" (żmudnej) highlights that the resistance was not just a heroic moment of battle, but a grueling, daily labor of organizing, smuggling, and preparing in the face of starvation.
"...on the weary path to You and toward You.": This is the most profound part."To You" (do Was): He is physically walking toward their headquarters, joining their ranks.
"Toward You" (ku Wam): This has a messianic or historical meaning. He sees these young Chalutzim as the future of the Jewish people. Even if he does not live to see a free world, his path leads toward the future they represent.
In January 1942, as the "Great Action" (deportations) loomed, this note was his way of saying: "My life's work is now your armor." He was validating their path of resistance, even if it differed from his lifelong pacifism.
Janusz Korczak’s note (January 30, 1942), to the Chalutzim at 34 Dzielna St., represented a spiritual and ideological 'passing of the torch' to the future leaders of the ZOB. By offering them his 'love, knowledge, power, and faith,' Korczak was providing his moral blessing to the young resistance fighters, transforming his lifelong pedagogical capital into their existential armor.
This gesture is even more profound when considering the specific timing: during this period, Korczak was visiting the Main Shelter at 39 Dzielna St., a place known as the 'dying room' (Umieralnia) due to its catastrophic conditions. Despite his failing health, Korczak wrote to the Judenrat offering to take over this 'terrible place' and work there two days a week throughout February 1942. His message to the young pioneers was not just theoretical; it was a demonstration of supreme 'power and faith' in the face of total despair, bridging the gap between his educational mission and the underground's preparation for the ultimate struggle for dignity.
Korczak is much more direct, although a bit coded, in his letter to Harry Kalisher. Also, this document was among the documents rescued on August 5th, 1942, after the deportation of Korczak's Orphanage. Korczak is ending the letter written on March 25, 1942, with the words:
Praca Twoja jest drobna w porównaniu z tym, co jest do zrobienia i co byś pragnął zrobić, ale wielka w obliczu tego, co leży odłogiem i czeka, co zbiera żniwo śmierci i cierpień bez miary. Uważaj swoją pracę za egzamin i szczebel. Nie próbuj przeskoczyć sam siebie przed czasem. Zanim kurtyna zapadnie – potrzebna będzie Twoja młodość, energia i siły. – Niedługo czekać będziesz na nowe wezwanie i nowe zadania. Prawda, że mogę liczyć na Ciebie i na Was jako na bardzo bliskich, dojrzałych towarzyszy broni? Męski, żołnierski uścisk ręki Tobie i Różyczce.
In English:Your work is small compared to what needs to be done and what you would wish to do, but it is great in the face of all that lies fallow and waits—that which reaps a harvest of death and measureless suffering. Treat your work as an exam and a stepping stone. Do not try to leap beyond yourself before the time is right. Before the curtain falls, your youth, energy, and strength will be needed. You will not have to wait long for a new call and new tasks. Is it true that I can count on you and your circle as very close, mature comrades-in-arms? A manly, soldierly handshake to you and to Różyczka.
This last passage is extraordinarily powerful, especially given the context of the Jewish Resistance and the upcoming uprising. Korczak’s choice of words like "comrades-in-arms" (towarzysze broni) and "soldierly handshake" (żołnierski uścisk) shows he knew exactly what kind of "call" was coming for the youth at 34 Dzielna Street and forwarding it to Harry and people around him."Before the curtain falls" (Zanim kurtyna zapadnie): This theatrical metaphor is haunting. Korczak, always a man of the arts and education, uses it to signal the final act of the Ghetto (deportations to the death camp).
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| "Korczak is no longer only admired and respected, awakening the heart and mind, but somehow closer, breathing the same air and the same thought." - "Młody Czyn" - 1939. |
Hashomer Hatzair (Hebrew: השומר הצעיר, "Young Guardian") is an international Jewish youth Scout organization. It was founded in 1916 in Vienna through the merger of the Tzeirei Tzijon movement (which consisted of self-study circles with Hebrew lessons) and the Hashomer "Guardian" organization, a Scout organization based primarily on the British model of Scouting. In Poland, the sixteen-member founding group in Poland included Janusz Korczak (Henryk Goldszmit).
Korczak was actually found as an Eretz Israel specialist and was, after his two visits there, invited to different cities in Poland to give talks. He was also writing in different youth Zionist newspapers and "Szomerzy" - the Shomers and their activities in Poland was almost every week the subject in Korczaks´newspaper Maly Przeglad.
P e o p l e a r e g o o d *
by Janusz Korczak
I know this girl. I know her father, who died, and her overworked mother. I have met them many times on the beautiful pages of Korczak's stories.
And once again, an encounter: "People are good." Characters as if known for a long time — a child whose head is filled with wise and difficult questions; adults, forever busy, with sadness in their eyes.
Many beautiful thoughts and strange questions — so simple, yet unfathomable. These are the extraordinary questions and thoughts of Janusz Korczak, which run like a red thread through his works:
The heart. "So much to love, and only one small human heart?"
"What is a homeland?... Perhaps two thousand years is not that long after all?"
"Why do people think that if someone doesn't know, doesn't have a skill, they must immediately be stupid? Not at all. They will learn, and then they will know."
So much simplicity and so much heart. It is a wonder: so much care and so much love for one small human heart...
And yet, this story is new. For the first time, there is a breeze from Eretz [Israel] in it. First time — a kibbutz. For the first time — chalutzim, shomrim, the sun that dries the lips, and "shalom," which gives heart.
Korczak is no longer only admired and respected, awakening the heart and mind, but somehow closer, breathing the same air and the same thought.
The story is beautiful — and it brings us joy. Everything there is seemingly like in the rest of the world: children have quarreled, a friend is teasing... And yet, it is different: a boy broke a tree branch — he did not hide it, he told the truth. No one scolded him; they said, "Well, it can happen to anyone." In the kibbutz, there is no money — everyone works equally, and they receive food, clothing, and a place to live.
Here, they understand better than anywhere else that "if a person does something wrong, it is because they do not know how to do otherwise, because they do not understand." One must teach, one must explain.
In the story, it is written: "to live in Palestine, one must deserve it." Perhaps that is why there are already some people there who allow us to believe that "People are good."
Mietek Z.
Mietek Z might be Mieczysław Zylberberg -to check!
* Ludzie są dobrzy (People are Good), published in 1938, is a poignant, short story by Janusz Korczak. It is a fictionalized account of emigration, reflecting Korczak’s own visits to Palestine in 1934 and 1936.
The story is told from the perspective of a young, orphaned girl who leaves her home country to travel to Palestine with her mother. Despite the difficulties of loss and migration, the title reflects a, perhaps fragile, belief in the goodness of people.
The book was published by the Palestinian Library for Children. It was partly a gift to readers of the Mały Przegląd (Little Review) magazine, for which Korczak was a mentor.
Oddychający tym samym powietrzem i tą samą myślą! pisze o Korczaku Mietek Z w recenzji w gazecie szomrowskiej "Młody Czyn" w 1939 roku.
