Janusz Korczak: The Educator who Refused to Abandon Children in the Holocaust

Yael Steiner and Jonathan Schwab are back for a new season of Jewish History Nerds, starting with the remarkable story of Janusz Korczak—the Jewish-Polish pediatrician and educator who insisted children are full human beings, not “human becomings.” Korczak pioneered radical ideas about children’s rights, dignity, and autonomy, building orphanages where children governed themselves and were treated as moral equals. The episode explores his complex Polish-Jewish identity and lasting influence on child psychology—before confronting the ultimate test of his philosophy during the Holocaust, when Korczak refused multiple chances to escape and instead accompanied 200 Jewish orphans from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka.

For more on Janusz Korczak and this episode:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NAb5Zxas4SipmAP9M7X5NPWPOIE_tqeJvGjTNTbOTVk/edit?usp=sharing

Watch Yael and Schwab on YouTube:

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