A true hero of WWII

[WinterBorn]

Janusz Korczak was a doctor and a writer of children's books. He was also the head of a Jewish orphanage. His groundbreaking views on raising children were known worldwide.

When the Germans created the Warsaw Ghetto, his orphanage was moved there. The conditions were horrific for everyone in the Ghetto. Overcrowding and starvation were constant.

Friends outside the Warsaw Ghetto tried to get Korczak to let them smuggle him out of the Ghetto and of the country. He refused. He and his small staff wanted to stay with the children as long as they could.

In 1942 the Germans came for the orphans to transport them to the Treblinka Extermination Camp. One of the German officers recognized Korczak as the writer of his favorite childhood book, and offered to help him escape. Again, he refused.

While he knew where the Germans were taking them, he told the children that they were going to the countryside, where they could play in meadows, bath in streams, and eat berries and mushrooms found in the forests. He had them dress in their best clothes. They marched out of the orphanage two by two, in their finest clothes with a happy demeanor. Korczak was at the head of the column holding a little child's hand. He had told friends that he wanted to keep the children from being scared for as long as possible.

They boarded the train holding hands and singing. No one ever saw Janusz Korczak after that. He willingly marched into the Treblinka death camp to give a bit of comfort to the children.


That, my friends, is the mark of a true hero.

 

[DGS49]

Thanks for the clarification. A "hero" is someone who voluntarily risks his own life and/or wellbeing in order to protect or save others. That term is thrown around promiscuously too often. There is no such thing as a sports hero.

 

[whitehall]

He fooled the children into thinking they were Ok while they were headed for a Holocaust death camp. That's the best you can do for an example of a hero?

 

[WinterBorn]

He fooled the children into thinking they were Ok while they were headed for a Holocaust death camp. That's the best you can do for an example of a hero?

It is a great example of a hero. The children were going to be murdered. He could do nothing about that. But he kept them happy and hopeful until the very end.

Yes, the outcome would have been the same. But spending your last hours in terror and being horribly beaten if you did not go where you were supposed to go would be the worst.

To give your life to make sure almost 200 children had one more day of happiness sounds like hero material to me.

 

[Mushroom]

Gee, that sounds familiar.

 

[whitehall]

It is a great example of a hero. The children were going to be murdered. He could do nothing about that. But he kept them happy and hopeful until the very end.

Yes, the outcome would have been the same. But spending your last hours in terror and being horribly beaten if you did not go where you were supposed to go would be the worst.

To give your life to make sure almost 200 children had one more day of happiness sounds like hero material to me.

You could say he was an agent of the Nazi regime by assisting in the murder of innocent kids. Is it possible that he made a deal with the Nazi regime and they let him go?

 

[WinterBorn]

You could say he was an agent of the Nazi regime by assisting in the murder of innocent kids. Is it possible that he made a deal with the Nazi regime and they let him go?

He was a pretty famous person in his day. No one ever saw him again.

He did not participate, other than as a victim. He brough hope to the children.

 

[elektra]

You could say he was an agent of the Nazi regime by assisting in the murder of innocent kids. Is it possible that he made a deal with the Nazi regime and they let him go?

Why must you be an example of ugliness