The Children's Republic

On November 14, 2009, we went to an amazing play dedicated to Dr. Janusz Korczak “The Children’s Republic.” This play is about an orphanage in Poland during the Second World War. Dr. Korczak was a dedicated doctor, who gave his life to look after the interest of children, and then he followed his young charges into the ghetto even though he could clearly have saved himself.

What impressed me were the young actors, who are children themselves and how they were able to transport back into a very dark era in our history. The picture above is the Children's Court. They were absolutely brilliant! The play was the vision of Leon Gluzman who lived in Dr. Korczk's orphanage. In this video he speaks eloquently about Dr. Korczk and his experience in the orphanage. Mr. Gluzman, 90 lives in Ottawa, Canada.

I wish I were aware of Dr Korczk and the orphanage when I visited Warsaw in the late eights as a student. It would have been interesting to visit the orphanage, which I believe is still standing. When we went to Auschwitz, I did not have the heart to actually tour the barracks because the enormity of what happened there overwhelmed me. I waited at the gate until the other students returned, all the while trying to wrap my mind around how humanity could allow this type of injustice to get as far as it did.