A little-known signature of Korczak with an inkblot - There are many of Korczak's signatures. Sometimes Goldszmit, sometimes Korczak, sometimes both.

There are many of Korczak's signatures. Sometimes Goldszmit, sometimes Korczak, sometimes both. A little-known signature of Korczak with an inkblot. This signature belongs to the 'court case' in the orphanage between the Doctor and a girl named Balcia.

Korczak had several Own Court Cases. Sometimes he provokes especially children so they will report him to the Court. There are several documents from the courts, both from the children and the response from Korczak. One of them is from Balcia.
Janusz Korczak was himself reported to his own court dozens of times over the years. Among other things, he was convicted of having:

• Pulled a child's ear.
• Scolded a boy unfairly.
• Sent a child out of the dormitory.
• Shown a lack of respect for a child's integrity.

When the trial against the Doctor was over, he had to humbly accept the children's verdict (which usually meant a mild paragraph stating that he had done wrong but was forgiven, or that he needed to apologize). Korczak used these incidents to show the children that power does not give anyone the right to violate someone else.
The unique document I mentioned – featuring the trial between the Doctor and the girl Balcia, signed with inkblots – is a fantastic, concrete proof of how Korczak practiced this radical respect for children in everyday life.

Usprawiedliwienie Balci.

p. Doktór mnie podał do Sądu że przeszkadzałam w grze. P. Doktór zaczął gwizdać i hukać, jakby kolejka. Więc ja tak zasłoniłam ręką żeby kolejka nie mogła jechać.  Wogóle p. Doktór bardzo dokucza mamy już drugie uchybienie przez p. Doktora, jak my zwracamy uwagę p. Doktorowi to pan Doktór wysadza język i mówi podaj mnie do sądu. Przede wszystkiem nie wolno się bawić przy stole, gdyż p. Doktór daje przykład. Albo p. Doktor mówi: dostanę 300, to będę siedział za drabinką albo w klozecie. P. Doktór mówi ze się stara bawić, a się bawi przy stole. Gdyby Doktór się starał, toby nie brał dzieci do stołu i się z nimi nie bił.

Z poważaniem
Balcia Szulewicz

Balcia’s Justification [Defense].

Doctor took me to Court, claiming that I interfered with the game. Doctor started whistling and hooting as if it were a toy train. So, I blocked it with my hand like this, so that the train couldn't pass. In general,  Doctor is very annoying; we already have a second offense caused by Doctor. When we draw Mr. Doctor’s attention to it,  Doctor sticks out his tongue and says, "take me to court." Above all, playing at the table is not allowed, since Doctor sets [such] an example. Or Mr. Doctor says: "If I get paragraph 300, I will sit behind the gymnastics wall bars or in the toilet." Mr. Doctor says he tries to play, yet he plays at the table himself. If the Doctor tried, he wouldn't bring children to the table and fight with them.

Usprawiedliwienie Balcia.
Wcale nie wydaje niewiniątka.
Wcale nie myślałam że p Doktór mnie
nie poda do sądu. P. Doktór wcale spokojnie
się nie bawił. Wcale się nie drażniłam
z panem Doktorem. Stół miał już więcej
niż dwa uchybienia tylko nie napisane
przez p. Doktora. Wiem, że mam

rację, bo nie wolno grać ani gwizdać.

Z poważaniem Balcia Sz.

Balcia’s Justification [Defense].
I am not acting like an innocent little thing at all. (crossed out in the original text)
I didn't think at all that Mr. Doctor wouldn't take me to court. Mr. Doctor was not playing quietly at all. I was not teasing Mr. Doctor at all. The table already had more than two offenses, they were just not written down by Mr. Doctor. I know that I am right, because playing and whistling are not allowed.
Respectfully,
Balcia Sz.

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Commentary on the Revised Text

Balcia´s (here revised) letter to the Court drastically clarifies several highly illegible passages of the original archival handwriting. They completely change our understanding of the specific situation in the orphanage. The original letter was highly distorted by phonetic spelling. However, it clearly reveals that the dispute was about Balcia disrupting a game (przeszkadzałam w grze), likely a simulation (possibly a provocation) where Korczak was pretending to be a train. The Punishment Spaces ("za drabinką albo w klozecie" - za drabinką (behind the wall bars/gymnastic ladder) and w klozecie (in the toilet/water closet)). This highlights Korczak’s self-deprecating humor. He was teasingly telling the kids that if he accumulated enough Paragraph 300 offenses (the first level of public condemnation in their Peer Court), he would sentence himself to sit in the corner behind the gym apparatus or lock himself in the bathroom as penance.

The Table Scuffles ("się z nimi nie bił"): The very last phrase (i się z nimi nie bił) clarifies the ending beautifully. Instead of an abstract sentence about blaming adults, it shows that Korczak was actively playfully "fighting," roughhousing, or play-wrestling with the children at the dining table, breaking his own strict rules about table manners!

This revised text paints an incredibly vivid portrait of Janusz Korczak’s pedagogical style: a man of immense authority who intentionally acted like a mischievous child, sticking out his tongue and playfully pushing boundaries, specifically so that the children would feel empowered to use the legal system to discipline him.

The Peer Court (Sąd Koleżeński) officially published and enacted Paragraph  § 300 verdicts using a deliberate, structured process:

1. The Court Bulletin Board

Once the five child judges finalized a verdict, the specific paragraph and the names of both the plaintiff and the defendant were neatly written down by the adult secretary. This sheet was pinned directly to the orphanage’s main notice board in the central hallway. Every child and staff member could pass by and read who had been judged and under what paragraph.

2. Weekly Oral Proclamation

Every Saturday, the entire community convened for a mandatory assembly.

• Korczak or a designated child editor would read aloud the orphanage's weekly newspaper.
• Integrated directly into this public reading was the official judicial report.
• When a Paragraph 300 verdict was reached, the name of the offender—whether it was a 10-year-old child or Dr. Korczak himself—was read out loud to the entire room. [1, 2]

3. Publication in the Official Press

Verdicts didn't just stay inside the walls of the orphanage. Korczak founded Mały Przegląd (The Little Review), a groundbreaking national newspaper written entirely by and for children. Summaries of notable cases, judicial precedents, and specific Peer Court rulings were regularly printed in the newspaper’s legal section to serve as educational examples for children all across Poland.

The True "Punishment" of Paragraph § 300

A common misconception is that a Paragraph § 300 verdict carried a physical penalty. In reality, the public announcement itself was the entire penalty.

The code strictly dictated that once your name was read aloud under Paragraph 300, the matter was legally settled, and the community was forbidden from shaming or bringing it up to you again. This is why Korczak playfully joked in Balcia's document that if he accumulated enough Paragraph 300 offenses, he would go "sit behind the wall bars or in the toilet"—he was teasing about the slight public embarrassment of having his mischievous table antics read aloud to the whole house on Saturday morning!

It was a very special feeling for me to uncover a new insight about the micro-jurisdiction of the children's dining table.