 The children beautifully prepared the large hall, laying down carpets and arranging fresh flowers. They secured a young cantor (chazan) to lead the prayers. Throughout the holy days, the Old Doctor stood solemnly in the corner of the room wearing a black silk skullcap (koppel), holding a Polish translation of the prayer book. His sermons to the children were deeply moving, touching upon life, death, the Torah, and the endurance of Israel. Zylberberg recorded that during the final Ne'ilah prayer at the end of Yom Kippur, Korczak uttered a chillingly prophetic warning: "Who knows whether we shall live to assemble next Yom Kippur again?" |
Calendar dates for Rosh Hashanah across the years 1939-1942
| Year | Holiday Begins (At Sunset) | Main Festival Days | Jewish Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Wednesday, September 13 | September 14 – 15 | 5700 |
| 1940 | Wednesday, October 2 | October 3 – 4 | 5701 |
| 1941 | Sunday, September 21 | September 22 – 23 | 5702 |
| 1942 | Friday, September 11 | September 12 – 13 | 5703 |
The Only Rosh Hashanah in the Ghetto: Janusz Korczak’s Tragic Countdown (1939–1942)*
When looking at the calendar of the Second World War through the lens of Janusz Korczak’s Orphans’ Home (Dom Sierot), a heartbreaking chronological truth emerges. Though the war ravaged Warsaw for nearly three years before the final liquidation of the orphanage, Korczak and his children celebrated the Jewish New Year inside the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto exactly once.
Tracing the dates of Rosh Hashanah from 1939 to 1942 reveals a poignant timeline of resilience, transition, and ultimate tragedy.
1939: Faith Under Fire (92 Krochmalna Street)
- Rosh Hashanah 5700: September 14–15, 1939
When the Jewish New Year arrived in September 1939, Warsaw was already under brutal siege by Nazi Germany. The Orphans’ Home at 92 Krochmalna Street faced terrifying artillery fire and aerial bombardment. During the siege, the building was severely damaged, and a bomb even struck the facility, though miraculously the children survived. In those chaotic first weeks of World War II, celebrating the New Year was an act of raw survival amidst the ruins of a rapidly falling capital.
1940: On the Brink of Confinement (92 Krochmalna Street)
- Rosh Hashanah 5701: October 3–4, 1940
A year later, the German occupation had suffocated the city, and rumors of a closed Jewish district were turning into reality. Rosh Hashanah in 1940 was almost certainly the last major holiday celebrated at their beloved, historic home on Krochmalna Street. Just weeks later, in early November 1940, the German authorities forced Korczak to evacuate the building because it fell into the designated "Aryan" zone. The orphanage was forced to move across the newly drawn borders into the ghetto.
1941: The Only Ghetto New Year (33 Chłodna Street)
- Rosh Hashanah 5702: September 22–23, 1941
By the autumn of 1941, the orphanage had been relocated to the former Roesler school building at 33 Chłodna Street, situated in a narrow corridor connecting the Large and Small Ghettos. This would become the setting for their only New Year celebrated inside the ghetto walls.
Though Janusz Korczak was historically an assimilationist who had not lived a traditionally religious life, the unprecedented horrors of the ghetto shifted his perspective. Michał Zylberberg, an educator who lived in the very same building at Chłodna 33, recalled Korczak approaching him days before the holiday to organize services for the 150 orphans. Korczak told him:
"In these terrible times, religion is our only positive force, our only protection."
The children beautifully prepared the large hall, laying down carpets and arranging fresh flowers. They secured a young cantor (chazan) to lead the prayers. Throughout the holy days, the Old Doctor stood solemnly in the corner of the room wearing a black silk skullcap (koppel), holding a Polish translation of the prayer book.
His sermons to the children were deeply moving, touching upon life, death, the Torah, and the endurance of Israel. Zylberberg recorded that during the final Ne'ilah prayer at the end of Yom Kippur, Korczak uttered a chillingly prophetic warning:
"Who knows whether we shall live to assemble again next Yom Kippur."
1942: Silence
- Rosh Hashanah 5703: September 12–13, 1942
The Old Doctor's premonition proved tragically precise. When the Jewish New Year of 1942 arrived, the large hall at Sienna 16 stood empty and silent.
Just a month earlier, on August 5, 1942, during the Grossaktion Warsaw, Janusz Korczak, his longtime collaborator Stefania Wilczyńska, the staff, and all 239 children were marched to the Umschlagplatz. From there, they were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp. By the time the shofar sounded to ring in the year 5703, the children were gone, and Dr. Korczak was dead.
Their single, defiant celebration in 1941 at Chłodna 33 remains a powerful testament to Korczak's commitment to shielding his children with dignity, culture, and spiritual comfort until the very end.
* The original article by Michał Zylberberg was published in The Daily Eagle (often indexed under its Yiddish-English title The Canadian Eagle or Keneder Adler) in the edition from Thursday, September 18, 1947. The text was featured in a special holiday section for Rosh Hashanah (5708) on page 11. The main article focused on wartime religious services, and the middle column contained the exact English excerpt you have, highlighted under the sub-headline "The Children's Home at 33 Chlodna Street".
