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| Shmul (Szmulek) Gogol |
Jerusalem Meeting - Shmul Gogol from Janusz Korczak's Orphanage recognized!
This anecdote captures a profound moment of post-war reunion:At one of the first International Korczak Conferences, a young man from the Israeli Korczak Committee was assigned to drive my father back to his hotel after the final academic session. They sat in the tiny car in complete silence. After a moment, my father looked at the driver and shouted, 'Szmulek!' The driver looked at my father and cried out, 'Pan Misza!' They stopped the car and, weeping, began to embrace. Neither of them had ever suspected that the other had survived the Holocaust.
Shmuel (Szmulek) Gogol was born in Warsaw in 1924. After the death of his mother and his father's expulsion from Poland, he was raised by his grandmother, who eventually brought him to Janusz Korczak's orphanage. He lived there for several years, and it was there that he received his first harmonica as a gift from Dr. Korczak himself.Gogol eventually fled Warsaw during the war. After hiding in various locations, including with family in Maków Mazowiecki, he was captured and deported to Auschwitz. His harmonica was seized immediately upon arrival, but he later traded his meager food rations to another prisoner for a different one. Soon after, a Nazi guard heard him playing, and he was forced to join the Auschwitz Orchestra, playing as Jews were marched toward the gas chambers. While he played, Gogol saw members of his own family being sent to their deaths; from that moment on, he closed his eyes whenever he performed.
