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The photograph (on the left) depicts Estera Małka Winogron (1914–1942) at the Warsaw Zoo. She was a student in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Warsaw, where she studied biology. It is not known exactly when she joined the staff of the Orphans’ Home, though it was likely only after the outbreak of the war. We do know that by the summer of 1940, she was already working as an educator at the final summer camp in the "Różyczka" (Little Rose) branch of the Home. She was murdered in the Treblinka death camp. On the right is the original text written by Pan Misza, recounting a visit to the zoo alongside the Doctor (Janusz Korczak) and children from the Orphans’ Home. |
AT THE ZOO
Pan Misza - Michal Wasserman Wróblewski
There were no classes at school that day. The Doctor, taking advantage of the favorable weather, decided to take Bella and Jankielek to the Zoological Garden. I do not recall exactly why those two were chosen. It seems to me that they had shown a particular interest in animals that they previously knew only from book illustrations and descriptions. It was suggested that I accompany the children as well. I gladly seized the opportunity.
We wandered through the ZOO for a long time. The children's attention was captured by one animal after another. The elephant aroused fondness because it was so large yet so gentle. The camel, on the other hand, evoked rather pity for being... humpbacked. It was difficult to pull the children away from the cage containing various species of monkeys. They laughed at how similar they were to humans, and noted that the monkey-mothers cared for their babies just like real human mothers do. The female kangaroos brought about hidden smiles, followed by questions. The children were curious about how polar bears actually live, and whether a male giraffe /they called it a "boy"/ is also called a giraffe, or perhaps in Polish "żyrafa". They wondered if baby animals were born in the Zoo or if they were brought from distant lands, and whether all animals ate the very same food. Korczak observed the animals, watched the children attentively, and answered their questions with a smile.
After three hours had passed, we approached the exit. Installed right beside it was a modern vending machine—modern, at least, for those times. The Doctor gave each of the children 10 groszy, showed them where to insert the coin, and where to press afterward. To the immense joy of the young ones, small chocolates shot out through the opening. Their delight was beyond description. Spending their own 10-groszy coins fished out of their pockets, they repeatedly tested the mechanism of this "wondrous machine".
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"And I wasted half a day on those rascals," the Doctor concluded with a smile, "just to see how they would react to animals locked in a cage."
