Holocaust Memorial Day at Queen's

In Prayers on Wednesday morning this week some Class 1 girls helped commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day with an interesting presentation on Janusz Korczak. Led by David Willows, head of History at Queen's, the pupils told the story of this remarkable man who was a teacher, writer and children's rights advocate. Having founded a Jewish orphanage in Warsaw, Korczak became famous throughout Poland in the inter-war years for his writings, children's newspaper, radio programmes and management of two orphanages. As a Jewish man in Poland his life was irrevocably changed by the Nazi invasion in September 1939. His orphanage was eventually moved into the Warsaw ghetto and in 1942 Korczak and the Jewish orphans he cared for were taken to Treblinka extermination camp where they were killed. A truly brave and humane man he refused the possibility of escape for himself and chose to stay with his children. His story is little known in this country and he certainly deserves to be remembered both for his inspiring life and his tragic death.

Posted: 29 Jan 2010