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| An orphanage for Jewish children in Bedzin. Identified in the photo: Fela Zyndorf (Zondorf), the child care worker, in the center, wearing glasses; Caregiver Ala Gertner (?), second row from the top, third from right. Photographed in 1941. ?- Another Ala Gertner was hanged in Auschwitz. |
Janusz Korczak’s system wasn't just a "local experiment in Warsaw", but a living movement carried forward also by his "disciples"—the former students and staff who became educators themselves. Also in the youth newspaper Mały Przegląd and his books, the ideas of self-governing, child courts, and similar were always present.
The "Korczak Rules" were never meant to be confined to the walls of Dom Sierot at 92 Krochmalna Street or at Nasz Dom at Bielany. Janusz Korczak and his close collaborators, Stefania Wilczyńska and Maryna Falska, viewed their orphanages as "laboratories" (I know, wrong word) for a new way of treating children. It was not a vision; Korczak´s system was carried across Poland and beyond through several channels.
The spread by "Bursa" educators
At both Dom Sierot (the Jewish orphanage) and Nasz Dom (the Christian home), Korczak established a Bursa—a dormitory for student teachers and older alumni. These young educators lived in the community, practiced the "Children's Republic" model daily, and then took those concepts to other institutions.
The "Korczak Rules" were never meant to be confined to the walls of Dom Sierot at 92 Krochmalna Street or at Nasz Dom at Bielany. Janusz Korczak and his close collaborators, Stefania Wilczyńska and Maryna Falska, viewed their orphanages as "laboratories" (I know, wrong word) for a new way of treating children. It was not a vision; Korczak´s system was carried across Poland and beyond through several channels.
The spread by "Bursa" educators
At both Dom Sierot (the Jewish orphanage) and Nasz Dom (the Christian home), Korczak established a Bursa—a dormitory for student teachers and older alumni. These young educators lived in the community, practiced the "Children's Republic" model daily, and then took those concepts to other institutions.
A National Network
Graduates from these Bursas became teachers at orphanages and schools across Poland (and abroad). When they arrived at places like the Bais Jatom orphanage in Będzin, they brought the "Korczak concept" with them—fully implementing children’s courts and parliaments to maintain human dignity even under the shadow of the Nazi occupation.
Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos
During the Holocaust, the Korczak system became a form of spiritual resistance. In several orphanages, staff members (many of whom were influenced by Korczak or by his way of treating the children used these rules to give children a sense of agency and justice in a world that offered neither. I remember the story of a young teacher who became responsible for the group of boys at the Orphanage at Wolnosc Street in the Warsaw Ghetto. She was looking for the advice in Korczak's books.
Graduates from these Bursas became teachers at orphanages and schools across Poland (and abroad). When they arrived at places like the Bais Jatom orphanage in Będzin, they brought the "Korczak concept" with them—fully implementing children’s courts and parliaments to maintain human dignity even under the shadow of the Nazi occupation.
Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos
During the Holocaust, the Korczak system became a form of spiritual resistance. In several orphanages, staff members (many of whom were influenced by Korczak or by his way of treating the children used these rules to give children a sense of agency and justice in a world that offered neither. I remember the story of a young teacher who became responsible for the group of boys at the Orphanage at Wolnosc Street in the Warsaw Ghetto. She was looking for the advice in Korczak's books.
Post-War Continuity in Jewish Orphanages at Rabka and Zakopane - Lena Küchler-Silberman
The system’s resilience was proven after the war ended. Lena Küchler-Silberman, who famously rescued 100 Jewish children (the "One Hundred Children"), utilized Korczak’s pedagogical principles in the orphanages she established in Rabka and Zakopane between 1945 and 1946. Küchler faced the daunting task of rehabilitating children who had survived camps and forest hideouts. She turned to the Korczak model of self-governance and mutual respect to help these traumatized youth transition from survival mode back into a community of trust and responsibility.
Third Orphanage in Poland with Korczak´s rules - Będzin
According to the story of the Kalkopf sisters (Guta, Gitla born 1926, and Dorotka, Dwojra born 1930), the Bedzin orphanage was a "Korczak Orphanage". Sisters, who survived the Holocaust and came to Sweden with the UNRRA-mission White Boats. I found that it was not an isolated anecdote; sisters said that they met Korczak at their orphanage, and Dorotka was sitting on his knees when he was telling stories.
According to Dorotka's daughter, the headmistress of the orphanage had probably worked with Dr. Korczak, as the children were treated very well and raised in the spirit of Korczak. Unfortunately, my mother did not know the headmistress's name; she only knew that she came from Warsaw and was probably one of the Bursa students at Korczak's orphanage (Dom Sierot) in Warszawa. Their story about Korczak visiting Będzin was confirmed by a former child from the orphanage, Isadore Hollander in his oral testimony (from 1982, the Gratz College Oral History Archive). He described their entire Korczak system there.
According to Dorotka's daughter, the headmistress of the orphanage had probably worked with Dr. Korczak, as the children were treated very well and raised in the spirit of Korczak. Unfortunately, my mother did not know the headmistress's name; she only knew that she came from Warsaw and was probably one of the Bursa students at Korczak's orphanage (Dom Sierot) in Warszawa. Their story about Korczak visiting Będzin was confirmed by a former child from the orphanage, Isadore Hollander in his oral testimony (from 1982, the Gratz College Oral History Archive). He described their entire Korczak system there.
Three buildings with Korczak's Influence
Dom Sierot in Warszawa and the Bais Jatom orphanage in Będzin were designed by Henryk Stifelman in cooperation with Janusz Korczak, while the building of Nasz Dom was designed by Zygmunt Tarasin also in cooperation with Korczak. The manager lived on the first floor, where there was also a library, a room with a piano, and a dining room. In the Bais Jatom orphanage in Będzin, the girls' dormitory was on the second floor, and the boys' was on the third. The kitchen was located downstairs, and food was sent up via a lift,” recalled Dorotka. From the building's blueprints, we can see that the facility was designed to accommodate over fifty children. The girls' and boys' dormitory had, like the Dom Sierot dormitories in Warsaw, extra-large windows.Part of Isadore Hollander's (IH) oral testimony (from 1982, the Gratz College Oral History Archive).
IH: Being accepted to an orphanage, was the best thing that had ever happened to me. It was a very well establishment, well-known in Europe, all over Poland and Europe. And it was established with the Charter by one of the well-
known Jewish people in Warsaw which he wrote, and he was a director of an orphanage,
Janusz Korczak.1 And...
JF: He was also, then, responsible for the establishment...
IH: No, he wasn’t, but we accepted his charter, how to raise children, how to
train us, how to make us good people, educated people, because he used a charter.
Children have to have a charter, on how to act. When I was 11 years of age, I was a president
from, I was the president of the board. And I ran an organization, like a children’s
organization. I read a constitution with paragraphs. And we all had duties as children. One
child had to learn how to cook. Two children had to know how to make breakfast for the
rest of the children. We were boys and girls. We were about 75 children in the orphanage.
JF: This constitution, you wrote or you read?
IH: No, this was written and adopted, from Janusz.
JF: I see.
IH: Korczak.
JF: I see.
IH: He was the one who wrote the constitution for children...
JF: I see.
IH: To govern an institution, like orphans. Now every institution has their own
constitution, their own by-laws, and laws. But this was given and then we adopted it, by
the well-known neurologist who became interested in the well-being of children all over Poland and
advocated advanced progressive ideas. He became head of an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto and perished with the children.
Janusz, from Janusz Korczak. And we did very well, and it did to me special being there,
for the time, till the age of 15. It did very good, because I was educated. I went to public school for seven years. I went three years to night school to finish like a...
JF: Like high school?
IH: Yeah, to the grade of high school. And being taught a trade as a tailor. And...
JF: You said you were president of the...
IH: I was being elected...
JF: Your, the group.
IH: Every year. Every year we had an election. We changed. One year when I
was president, the other year I could have been a secretary. We changed. We had a group,
and maybe the third year I wasn’t on the board. Because we had 75 to 80 children in the
orphanage. So it changes, but everybody had a duty, from the children, to clean the rooms
we slept, to clean the bathrooms, to wash the dishes, to prepare breakfast, to give out dinner,
to stay at the dinner and give out the dinner for the children, to hang the laundry. Duties
were for every child to do. We played theaters. I was awarded when I was eight years of
age. I was awarded for playing the theater...
JF: You were an actor.
IH: In the show. And in comedy and any other thing. And I myself have a
very good sense of humor, and I am very liked by people. In a very
short time I am liked by people. And, but that’s life, the way it’s supposed to be, I think so.
It’s the way I was taught.
JF: It seems like you feel that you were taught a great deal of these
characteristics at the orphanage.
IH: Absolutely. It gave me a good deed. That’s a shame that I couldn’t use any
better ways to be more educated, going to school, but it didn’t, time didn’t permit. I wanted
to grow up fast, to start to earn a living and help my mother.
JF: Were you seeing her during those years?
IH: I, yes, we were allowed every weekend, Saturday afternoon, to go home to
see parents. Children who didn’t have anybody to see, one child took the other.
JF: So you must have gone with someone?
IH: And we went, I went to see my mother. I went to see my aunt, and I went to
see my grandmother, one of my grandmother’s, my father’s mother. I used to go every
Shabbas. And she had for me put away fruit, and anything she grew, the apples. She was,
but I was the only orphan, and she just, I was like an eye, an apple in her eye. She watched
my yahrzeit I shouldn’t miss, after my father. And in the orphanage did the same thing. We
were educated every one in Yiddish and in those years we were allowed Hebrew. And the
time went by till I was 15 and I had to step out from there.
JF: Were you also, you mentioned that you were educated in Yiddish and
Hebrew?
IH: In Yiddish, very well in you know, Chumash and...
known Jewish people in Warsaw which he wrote, and he was a director of an orphanage,
Janusz Korczak.1 And...
JF: He was also, then, responsible for the establishment...
IH: No, he wasn’t, but we accepted his charter, how to raise children, how to
train us, how to make us good people, educated people, because he used a charter.
Children have to have a charter, on how to act. When I was 11 years of age, I was a president
from, I was the president of the board. And I ran an organization, like a children’s
organization. I read a constitution with paragraphs. And we all had duties as children. One
child had to learn how to cook. Two children had to know how to make breakfast for the
rest of the children. We were boys and girls. We were about 75 children in the orphanage.
JF: This constitution, you wrote or you read?
IH: No, this was written and adopted, from Janusz.
JF: I see.
IH: Korczak.
JF: I see.
IH: He was the one who wrote the constitution for children...
JF: I see.
IH: To govern an institution, like orphans. Now every institution has their own
constitution, their own by-laws, and laws. But this was given and then we adopted it, by
the well-known neurologist who became interested in the well-being of children all over Poland and
advocated advanced progressive ideas. He became head of an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto and perished with the children.
Janusz, from Janusz Korczak. And we did very well, and it did to me special being there,
for the time, till the age of 15. It did very good, because I was educated. I went to public school for seven years. I went three years to night school to finish like a...
JF: Like high school?
IH: Yeah, to the grade of high school. And being taught a trade as a tailor. And...
JF: You said you were president of the...
IH: I was being elected...
JF: Your, the group.
IH: Every year. Every year we had an election. We changed. One year when I
was president, the other year I could have been a secretary. We changed. We had a group,
and maybe the third year I wasn’t on the board. Because we had 75 to 80 children in the
orphanage. So it changes, but everybody had a duty, from the children, to clean the rooms
we slept, to clean the bathrooms, to wash the dishes, to prepare breakfast, to give out dinner,
to stay at the dinner and give out the dinner for the children, to hang the laundry. Duties
were for every child to do. We played theaters. I was awarded when I was eight years of
age. I was awarded for playing the theater...
JF: You were an actor.
IH: In the show. And in comedy and any other thing. And I myself have a
very good sense of humor, and I am very liked by people. In a very
short time I am liked by people. And, but that’s life, the way it’s supposed to be, I think so.
It’s the way I was taught.
JF: It seems like you feel that you were taught a great deal of these
characteristics at the orphanage.
IH: Absolutely. It gave me a good deed. That’s a shame that I couldn’t use any
better ways to be more educated, going to school, but it didn’t, time didn’t permit. I wanted
to grow up fast, to start to earn a living and help my mother.
JF: Were you seeing her during those years?
IH: I, yes, we were allowed every weekend, Saturday afternoon, to go home to
see parents. Children who didn’t have anybody to see, one child took the other.
JF: So you must have gone with someone?
IH: And we went, I went to see my mother. I went to see my aunt, and I went to
see my grandmother, one of my grandmother’s, my father’s mother. I used to go every
Shabbas. And she had for me put away fruit, and anything she grew, the apples. She was,
but I was the only orphan, and she just, I was like an eye, an apple in her eye. She watched
my yahrzeit I shouldn’t miss, after my father. And in the orphanage did the same thing. We
were educated every one in Yiddish and in those years we were allowed Hebrew. And the
time went by till I was 15 and I had to step out from there.
JF: Were you also, you mentioned that you were educated in Yiddish and
Hebrew?
IH: In Yiddish, very well in you know, Chumash and...
The names of all the children who lived in the Jewish Orphanage on Sienkiewicza 19 in 1939, according to the Bedzin Census:
Dawid ABRAMCZYK;
Chana ADLERFLIEGEL
Frajndla BERGMAN
Chana BERMAN
Chaja CYMBERG
Gitla DLUGONOGA
Lejbus FLUM
Sara GLASS
Berisz GOLDFELD
Gitla GOSLEWSKI
Chaim GUTENCAJG i Zalma GUTENCAJG
Mosze HOPFENBERG
Dwojra KALKOPF i Gitla KALKOPF *
Masza KUPCZYK
Chaim PENCZAK
Wolf STRÓZ/ZELMANOWICZ
Gitla SZAFIR, Josef Chaim SZAFIR i Rajzla SZAFIR
Urysz SZAJNTAL
Frajdla SZWIMER
Brajndla TRAJMAN i Sura Chawa TRAJMAN.
In addition, the following people lived in the orphanage:
Gustawa BROSS (an official)
Chuna GOLDSZTAJN (a worker) and his family
Chil and Wolf GOLDSZTAJN
Rachela GRYNBAUM (a worker).
In 1942, the Jewish police, under the orders of Hersz BARENBLAT, rounded up all the children in the orphanage and shipped them to their deaths in Auschwitz.
Zdjęcia ze strony na Facebooku - Bedzin Research Group.
