2023-08-02 19:14:43
In one of the last entries he manages to write in his ‘Ghetto Diary’ (Seix Barral), Janus Korczak notes: «The stomach is hungry if we do not give it food when it is empty, without food. The heart is hungry, sad and full of longing when it lacks love. The reflection condenses his struggle for survival, his own and that of the nearly 200 children in his care at the orphanage that he directed in the Warsaw ghetto. Just a few days later, the Nazis vacated the asylum. They proposed to escape until the last minute, but he did not want to. He led the 192 children and, together with his ten assistants, led the procession through the streets of the ghetto until they caught the train that took them directly to the Treblinka gas chambers.
Korczak, who gave up his career as a doctor to dedicate himself to caring for orphans, was aware at all times that this was the Time.news of a tragedy foretold and prepared the little ones to face his destiny. In July, the orphans They performed ‘The King’s Postman’, by Rabindranath Tagore, which tells the story of a boy who, despite being in the final stretch of his illness and not being able to leave home, continues to dream of being free. “It is a very emotional work. Korczak organized a representation of him so that the children would learn to face death”, affirms the historian and writer Mario Escobar.
The legend also tells that, when he directed the little ones to the railway station, he raised the flag of the country that he himself had created in ‘King Mateo I’ (‘El rey Matías’ in previous editions), whose first publication is now a century old and which Anaya Infantil is reprinting for this reason. Korczak gave free rein to his dream of a built nation tailored to the needs of the niño in this classic work of Polish children’s literature.
Cover of the commemorative edition of the hundred years of the publication of ‘El rey Mateíto’
At barely 10 years old, Mateíto inherits the throne of his country when his father dies and he has to face the difficult task of governing. «One of the reasons for the book’s success is undoubtedly the possibility it offers for children to identify with some characters their age and especially with King Mateíto. What child has not dreamed ever with being king of an imaginary country? What child is not seduced by the idea that the adult laws are bad and that he is called to reform them and turn the country in question into a paradise for all?», explain Joanna and Monika Poliwka, translators of the work in Spanish in this commemorative edition.
From war to independence
Halfway between satire, utopia and the story, ‘El rey Mateíto I’ condenses all the knowledge of the childish soul of the pedagogue with the reality that his country lived at that time and his own personal experiences. Korczak’s father was admitted to a hospital for the mentally ill and died in 1896. “He always feared losing his head as well, in fact that is why he did not have children, for fear that they would inherit this mental pathology,” points out Escobar, author of ‘Auschwitz Lullaby’.
In addition to the trauma, the reality is that the family lost their livelihood and he had to face that burden from a young age. He studied medicine in Warsaw and abroad, specializing in pediatrics. He worked as such for a few years, but left the hospital to work in an orphanage. During World War I he is mobilized as military doctor within the Russian army.
After the war and the proclamation of the independence of Poland, years of great ferment came in which the country wanted to build a new future. “There was a great optimism in Polish society, especially in Warsaw, from which Korczak was infected, “says the historian. Published five years later, “‘El rey Mateíto I’ is an attempt to explain to younger readers the daily functioning of a country and a society at all levels,” point out Joanna and Monika Poliwka.
utopia and reality
It also reflects his hope that the children are the ones who can create a different world. In the first edition of the book, he accompanies the story with a photo of him as a child and writes «I show this photograph because the time when I wanted to be king seems more important than the time when I write about King Mateíto. I have always thought that it is better to photograph kings, adventurers and writers when they are not yet too old. Otherwise, it seems that from the beginning they were wise and that they were never small, and for this reason the children think that they will never be able to become ministers, travelers or writers, which is not true».
Photo of Janus Korczak as a child that he included in the first publication of ‘El rey Mateíto I’
The pedagogue firmly believed that «children, having no prejudices, moral barriers or preconceived ideas, are capable of imagining new ideas. Imagination was one of the things he valued most. In fact, the need to empower it was included in his pedagogical ideology, which is why he held many artistic events in his orphanages, “says Escobar. In them Korczak organized a real children’s republic with a constitution, parliament, court of justice…, and practically everything was put to a vote. Those laws and norms inspired the UN to create the current rights of the child.
#director #Warsaw #ghetto #orphanage #created #country #orphans #accompanied