Children of Genocide: A Legacy of Lost Dreams

Abstract

Dr Janusz Korczak was a European pediatrician, educator, and children's author from the first half of the 20th century. First as a pediatrician and then as a teacher he dedicated his life to impoverished and vulnerable children. He formed a progressive orphanage and school in Warsaw, Poland, during the 1930s to care for orphaned children of both Jewish and Catholic descent. In 1940, after the German invasion of Poland by the Nazis, Dr Korczak was ordered to close the orphanage. Instead, he moved the 200 to 300 Jewish children for whom he cared into the Warsaw ghetto and attempted to establish a safe haven within the turmoil, uncertainty, and fear of the new location. Eventually, the children were ordered to be relocated to the death camp of Treblinka. Despite being a Jew, because of his fame as Poland's “old doctor” he was encouraged on several occasions to abandon the children and return to the Aryan side of Warsaw. He refused, and on August 6, 1942, he quietly marched with his children to the trains for relocation and eventually to death at the hands of the Nazis.1 His story and the fate of these children are but an example of the many silent others who attempted to protect men, women, and especially children from the ravages of the Holocaust. This commentary has three overall goals. The first is to encourage us to not think of genocide solely as a historical event such as the Holocaust but, rather, a persistent reality that requires constant vigilance and action as it transitions from our past into the current affairs of the 21st century. Second, to realize that as part of genocidal denial, we frequently forget that the burden of these atrocities is disproportionally placed on children. Finally, as pediatricians, to advocate by being … Address correspondence to Charles Oberg, MD, FAAP, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 S Second St, West Bank Office Building, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454. E-mail: oberg001{at}umn.edu