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| Bedroom in Dom Sierot (the Orphans’ Home on Krochmalna Street). |
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| Bedroom in Dom Sierot (the Orphans’ Home on Krochmalna Street). |
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| In Korczak’s orphanages, bedrooms deliberately contained no cabinets or bedside furniture to maintain absolute cleanliness, space, and hygienic order. There was also no space for such. |
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| In Dom Sierot (the Orphans’ Home on Krochmalna Street), individual drawers—officially called boxes (kasetki)—were located at the bottom of the library shelves in the main hall (Sala Rekreacyjna). Janusz Korczak viewed the kasetka (individual drawer) as an inviolable space that upheld a child's dignity, privacy, and right to personal property. Children saw these boxes as "my whole kingdom" for storing personal treasures. |
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| Drawers (Boxes) equipped with hinges in Our Home at Bielany |
Pedagogy of the Locker: Respecting Child Privacy in Janusz Korczak’s Homes
In Korczak’s orphanages, bedrooms deliberately contained no cabinets or bedside furniture. This design choice maintained absolute cleanliness, maximized space for children's beds, and ensured strict hygienic order. Because the bedrooms lacked the space for personal storage, a system of individual drawers and lockers was created within the shared common areas. This arrangement directly reflected Korczak's deep pedagogical respect for each child's privacy and personal boundaries.
Drawers (Boxes) in the Orphans’ Home on Krochmalna Street
At the Orphans’ Home at 92 Krochmalna Street, the bedrooms on the upper floors contained only rows of identical iron beds. The entire personal and material life of the children was centered on the ground floor. Individual drawers—officially called boxes (kasetki)—were located at the bottom of the library shelves in the main hall (Sala Rekreacyjna). Every child had one personal drawer (kasetka) without a key or a special latch. This was the only fully autonomous space for each child. They kept their most precious "treasures" there, such as marbles, stamps, letters, and family keepsakes. No one else—neither educators nor peers—had the right to look inside without the owner's explicit permission.
Lockers in "Our Home" in Bielany
When the modern building of "Our Home" (Nasz Dom) in Bielany opened in 1928, designed with the direct input of Janusz Korczak, the rule of empty bedrooms that contained only rows of identical iron beds was preserved. However, the system for storing personal belongings was somewhat technically upgraded. Pan Jerzy-Igor Newerly, Korczak's close associate and secretary, was a skilled carpenter and manual crafts instructor at the facility before starting his career as a writer. He personally designed and built modern, modular lockers for the children. Newerly’s lockers were grouped together in a single shared area. They were designed as vertical, compact storage units that optimized space. Each specific section or box was assigned to an individual child.
Both solutions—the boxes at Krochmalna Street and the lockers in Bielany—were one of the key elements of Korczak’s pedagogy.
