Thursday, July 26, 2012

Korczak - Yesterday’s rainbow and July 27, 1942



Janusz Korczak wrote on July 27, 1942 - Yesterday’s rainbow

On August 5th, 1942 he was deported and murdered in Treblinka.




Yesterday’s rainbow.

A marvelous big moon over the camp of the homeless pilgrims.

Why can’t I calm this unfortunate, insane quarter?

Only one brief communiqué.

The authorities might have allowed it.

Or, at worst, refused it.

Such a lucid plan.

Declare yourself, make your choice. We do not offer a choice of easy roads. No playing bridge for the time being, no sunbathing, no delicious dinners paid for with the blood of the smugglers.

Choose: either get out, or work here on the spot.

If you stay, you must do whatever may be necessary for the re-settlers.

The autumn is near. They will need clothes, footwear, underwear, tools.

Anyone trying to wiggle out of it will be caught, anyone wanting to buy himself out—we shall gladly take his jewelry, foreign currency, anything of value. When he has already surrendered all—and fast—then we shall ask him again:

“Here or out there? What have you decided?”

So long as there’s no sunbathing on the beaches, no bridge and no pleasant nap after reading the newspaper.

You’re a social worker? All right. You can even pretend it for a time and we shall pretend to believe you. In general, we believe as long as it is convenient and whatever is convenient. Excuse me: not convenient. Whatever is in the plan.

We are running a gigantic enterprise. Its name is war. We work in a planned, disciplined manner, methodically. Your petty interests, ambitions, sentiments, whims, claims, resentments, cravings do not concern us.

Of course—a mother, a husband, a child, an old woman, a family heirloom, a favorite dish—they are all very nice, pleasant, touching. But for the present, there are more important things. When there is time to spare, we shall return to such things, too.

Meanwhile, in order not to prolong the matter, things must get a bit rough and painful, and if I may put it that way, without particular precision, elegance or even scrupulousness. Just roughly cut for current expediency.

You yourself are longing to see all this over. So are we. Therefore, don’t interfere.

Jews go East. No bargaining. It is no longer the question of a Jewish grandmother but of where you are needed most—your hands, your brain, your time, your life. Grandmother. This was necessary only to hook on to something, a key, a slogan.

You say you cannot go East—you will die there. So choose something else. You are on your own, you must take the risk. For clearly we, to keep up appearances, are obliged to bar the way, to threaten, prosecute and reluctantly to punish.

And you butt in, uninvited, with a fresh wad of bank notes. We have neither time nor desire for that sort of thing. We are not playing at war, we were told to wage it with the greatest possible expedition, efficiently, as honestly as possible.

The job is not clean, or pleasant, or sweet smelling. So for the present, we must be indulgent to the workers we need.

One likes vodka, another woman, a third likes to boss everyone around while yet another, by contrast, is meek and lacks self-confidence.

We know: they have their vices, shortcomings. But they reported in time while you were philosophizing, procrastinating. Sorry, but the train must run on schedule, according to a timetable prepared in advance. Here are the railroad tracks.

The Italians, the French, the Romanians, the Czechs, the Hungarians—this way. The Japanese, the Chinese, even the Solomon Islanders, even the cannibals—the other way. Farmers, highlanders, the middle class and the intelligentsia.

We are Germans. It is not a question of the trademark but of the cost, the destination of the products.

We are the steel roller, the plow, the sickle. So long as it bears fruit. And it will, provided you don’t interfere, don’t whine, get all upset, and poison the air. We may feel sorry for you at times, but we must use the whip, the big stick or the pencil, because there must be order. A poster.

“Whoever does this or that—will be shot.” “Whoever does not do this or that—we will shoot.” Someone seems to be asking for it. A suicide? Too bad. Someone else is not afraid. Hail! A hero?

Let his name shine in letters of gold but—now, out of the way since there is no alternative.

A third is afraid—livid with fear, constantly runs to the toilet, dulls himself with tobacco, liquor, women, and obstinately wants his own way. What would you do with him?

The Jews have their merits. They have talent, and Moses, and Christ, and are hard working, and Heine, are an ancient race, and progress, and Spinoza, and yeast and pioneering and generous. All true. But besides the Jews, there are other people, and there are other issues.

The Jews are important, but later—you will understand some day. Yes, we know and remember. An important issue, but not the only one.

We do not blame. It was the same with the Poles and it is the same even now with Poland and Palestine, and Malta, and Martinique, and with the respectable proletarian, and the fair sex and the orphan, with militarism and capitalism. But not all at once. There must be some order of procedure, some priorities.

It’s hard for you, it’s not easy for us, either. The more so since there is no buffet handy where formerly one could escape from a wearisome discussion.

You must listen my friend, to History’s program speech about the new chapter.

WHY DO I CLEAR THE TABLE?
I know that many are dissatisfied at my clearing the table after meals. Even the orderlies seem to dislike it. Surely they can manage. There are enough of them. If there were not, one or two always could be added. Then why the ostentation, the obstinacy, and even maybe I’m nasty enough to pretend to be diligent and so democratic.

Even worse, if anyone comes to see me on important business, I tell him to wait, saying:

“I am occupied now.”

What an occupation: picking up soup bowls, spoons and plates.

But worse still is that I do it clumsily, get in the way while the second helping is being passed. I bump against those sitting tightly packed at the tables. Because of me he cannot lick clean his soup plate or the tureen. Someone may even lose his second helping.

Several times something fell from the plates carried clumsily. If anyone else had done it, he would be told off and have a case against him. Because of this eccentricity some seem to feel guilty for letting me do it, others feel guilty because somehow they think they are even taking advantage of me.

How is that I myself do not understand or see how it is? How can anyone understand why I do it when right now I am writing that I know, see and understand that instead of being helpful I make a nuisance of myself?

Odd. I sense that everybody thinks I should not pick up the dishes, but nobody has ever asked why I do it. Nobody has approached me: Why do you do it? Why do you get in the way?

But here is my explanation:
When I collect the dishes myself, I can see the cracked plates, the bent spoons, the scratches on the bowls. I expedite the clearing of the tables and the side table used for the little shop so that the orderlies can tidy up sooner. I can see how the careless diners throw about, partly in a quasi-aristocratic and partly in a churlish manner, the spoons, knives, the salt shakers, and cups, instead of putting them in the right place. Sometimes I watch how the extras are distributed or who sits next to whom. And I get some ideas. For if I do something, I never do it thoughtlessly. This waiter’s job is of great use to me, it’s pleasant and interesting.

But not this is important. It is something quite different. Something that I have spoken and written about many times, that I have been fighting against for the past thirty years, since the inception of the Children’s Home, fighting without a hope of victory, without visible effect, but I don’t want to and cannot abandon that fight.

My aim is that in the Children’s Home there should be no soft work or crude work, no clever or stupid work, no clean or dirty work. No work for nice young ladies or for the mob. In the Children’s Home, there should be no purely physical and no purely mental workers.

At the institution at Dzielna Street run by the City Council, they look at me with shock and disgust when I shake hands with the charwoman, even when she happens to be scrubbing the stairs and her hands are wet. But frequently I forget to shake hands with Dr. K., and I have not been responding to the bows of Drs. M. and B.

I respect honest workers. To me their hands are clean and I hold their opinions in high esteem.

The washerwoman and the janitor at Krochinalna Street used to be invited to join our meetings, not just to please them but in order to take their advice and benefit from their assistance as specialists in matters which would otherwise be left unresolved, i.e. be placed under paragraph 3. (Par. 3 of the Home’s Code read: “The Court doesn’t know how it was in fact, and thus refuses to consider the case.”)

There was a joke in a weekly newspaper of twenty years ago. Actually not a joke but a witty comment.

Josek - I don’t remember which one, there were many of them—could not solve a problem in arithmetic. He tried hard and long, and finally said:

“I don’t know how to do it. I place it under paragraph three.”

No one is better or wiser because he is working in the storeroom rather than pushing the wheelbarrow. No one is better or wiser just because he can wield power. I am not
better or wiser for signing the passes, or donation receipts. This brainless work could be done more conscientiously and better by a youngster from third or even second grade.

The collector of money, a rude woman, is a nobody to me. Mr. Lejzor is a fine fellow though he digs in the filth of the sewage pipes and canals. Miss Nacia would deserve respect from me if she peeled potatoes instead of being a typist. And it is not my fault that Miss Irka, the nurse, shifts the inferior jobs onto Mira and that Mrs. Róza Sztokman, whom I also respect, once in a while may not scrub the toilet or the kitchen floor just to have a rest.

In farming, this is called crop rotation. In hygiene and medicine—a change of climate. In the church—an act of humility. The Pope is called the Holy Father, big men kneel down before him and kiss his slipper. And, once a year, the Pope washes the feet of twelve beggars in the church.

The Jews are conceited and that is why they are despised. I believe this will change, perhaps soon. Meanwhile, please don’t get cross with me for collecting the dishes or emptying the buckets in the toilet.

Whoever says, “Physical work is dirty work,” is lying. Worse still the hypocrite who says, “No one should be ashamed of any work,” but picks for himself only clean work, avoids what is described as dirty work and thinks that he should keep out of the way of dirty work.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Korczak bez ulicy w Warszawie - Nasze kamienice i nasze ulice - No Korczak street in Warszawa

Our streets and squares shall once more bear the names of our heroes; they shall not be named after Jews.
(AH speach in Munich 1922)


"Na tyłach bloków" albo "beznumerowa ulica na Woli" wystarczy!

Myslałem że w ramach obchodów Roku Janusza Korczaka, m.st Warszawa nazwie jakas ulice czy plac imieniem Korczaka Taka ulica by przypominała, składała chołd Korczakowi. Sylwetkę wybitnego Żyda-Polaka, lekarza, pisarza, wychowawcy, działacza społecznego i myśliciela czci sie tylko w 70 rocznice i basta! 




M. st Warszawa poinformowalo mnie o tym ze "na tyłach bloków na ul. Korkowej w Wawrze" jest "nawet" popierscie Korczaka.


Wystarczy, zadnych nowych ulic dra. Janusza Korczaka! 




"Na tyłach bloków" albo "beznumerowa ulica na Woli" wystarczy!




Kubus Puchatek ma nawet ulice w Warszawie, prawdziwa, z numerami, ale on był Anglikiem. Janusz Korczak był z urodzenia i z przekonania całe swoje życie ..... warszawiakiem. To z przemówienia pani Prezydent m. st. Warszawy która nie uwaza ze Korczak powinien miec ulice nazwana swoim imieniem. HIPOKRYZJA !!!


There is Winnie the Pooh Street. Ulica Kubusia Puchatka  in central Warsaw, Poland. It got several houses "with numbers". 


However, there is no Janusz Korczak street in central Warszawa.  



Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Korczaks 63rd Birthday - Jutro kończę 63 albo 64 lata" – napisał Korczak




Janusz Korczak i mitten av 30-talet

July 22, 1942, Korczak’s birthday, was marked by the start of the Großaktion Warschau, an annihilation of the Warsaw ghetto.


Det var här mellan  Sliska och Sienna (gatan) i huset markerat med en asterisk * som Janusz Korczak fyllde 63 år.

Korczak's Orphans Home moved from 33 Chłodna Street to the building at 16 Sienna Street/9 Śliska str,  marked with an asterisk *  
From this building Korczak and his staff together with 239 orphans were taken to Umschlagplatz and death camp Treblinka.

Jutro kończę 63 albo 64 lata – napisał Korczak w swoim Pamiętniku 21 lipca 1942 roku, a więc dokładnie na dwa tygodnie przed śmiercią. 


Imorgon fyller jag 63 eller 64 år skrev Korczak i sin Dagbok den 21 juli 1942, d.v.s för exakt 70 år sedan, precis två veckor innan han blev mördad av tyskarna.


Tomorrow I will be 63 or 64 years old -  wrote Korczak on July 21, 1942,   a note in his Warsaw ghetto Diaryexactly two weeks before he was murdered by Germans.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Janusz Korczak och den 22 Juli - Han visste att det var början till slutet

Janusz Korczak i 22 lipca -  Wiedział, że to może być Początek Końca
Janusz Korczak and July 22 -  He knew, it was the Beginning of the End
July 22, 1942, Korczak’s birthday, marked the start of the Großaktion Warschau an annihilation of the Warsaw ghetto. Korczak wrote on that day:

July 22, 1942
Everything else has its limits, only brazen shameless-ness is limitless.
The authorities have ordered the hospital in Stawki Street to be cleared. And the head
doctor, a woman, was told to admit all the bad cases to Zelazna Street.

What do we do? Prompt decision, efficient action.

X and Z have 175 convalescent children. They have decided to place a third of them
with me. There are more than fifteen other institutions, but ours is nearby.
And the fact that over a period of six months the lady in question stooped to every
conceivable outrage against the patients for the sake of convenience, through obstinacy or
stupidity, that she fought with devilish cunning against my humane and simple plan—that
goes for nothing [……]
While I was out, Mrs. K. agreed to, and Mrs. S. proceeded to put in operation the
shameless demand, detrimental in the highest degree, harmful to their children and ours
[...]. .],

To spit on the floor and clear out. I have long been contemplating it. More—a noose,
or lead on the feet…….]
(It has come out incomprehensibly again. But I am too tired to write more.)
During the last three months of his life, Korczak was working on a manuscript that has become known as the Ghetto Diary.
Azrylewicz died this morning. Oh, how hard it is to live, how easy to die!



Deltagare i "22 Juli" längs en gata som minns den mörka tiden. 265 000 (265 tusen) judar mördades i Treblinka under Großaktion Warschau som startade 22 juli 1942 och varade i 3 månader. 
Band deltagarna bär med sig har namn, ofta i diminutivform, dvs barnnamn. Banden har hängts upp vid grinden av Korczaks barnhem i Warszawa. Många hade svårt att lämna ifrån sig banden, då det fanns så mycket sorg och smärta bakom varje i Förintelsen mördat barn vars namn stod på bandet. 
Den Andra Generationen (Drugie Pokolenie) var en av huvudorganisatörer till 22 Juli marschen.


Deltagare i "22 Juli" vid Stawki (gatan) dvs där Umschlagsplatz låg


Two thousand from Poland’s Jewish community and other Poles gathered at Umschlagplatz, the site in Warsaw where Jews were loaded onto trains bound for the death Camp Treblinka. They then walked as a group to a former Jewish orphanage Dom Sierot run until August 5th by dr. Janusz Korczak, a Jewish educator and writer. Participants carried colorful ribbons bearing the first names of children like Ania, Bela, Blumcia, Lunia, Sabina, Aronek, Izio, Jakubek who died in the Holocaust and tied them to a fence at the orphanage.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/22/3717452/poland-remembers-transports-from.html#storylink=cpy

Ania, Bela, Blumcia, Lunia, Sabina, Aronek, Izio, Jakubek barnnamn i diminutivform vid staketet vid Korczaks Dom Sierot, Krochmalna 92 i Warszawa

Colorful ribbons bearing the first names of children like Ania, Bela, Blumcia, Lunia, Sabina, Aronek, Izio, Jakubek who died in the Holocaust tied them to the fence at the Korczaks Orphanage, Dom Sierot.

Na zakończenie Marszu Pamięci powiesiliśmy na parkanie otaczającym Dom Sierot Korczaka na Krochmalnej 92, wstażki z imionami dzieci wywiezionych z Getta do obozu zagłady w Treblince.


Under sommaren 1942 har 265 000 människor gått på den här gatan. 
Efter de fanns snart bara aska.

Korczaks Dom Sierot, Krochmalna 92, Warszawa

Den tyska ordern från 22 juli 1942 om förflyttning till Öst - i verkligheten till Treblinkas gaskammare


22 lipca 1942 roku Niemcy rozpoczęli masowe deportacje z Getta w Warszawie. W ciągu dwóch miesięcy do obozu zagłady w Treblince wywieziono z Warszawy ponad 265 tys. Żydów. Razem z zabitymi na miejscu liczba mieszkańców getta zmalała w trzy miesiace o 300 tysięcy. 
Po wielkiej akcji,  spośród 51 tysięcy żydowskich dzieci poniżej 10-tego roku życia ocalało tylko 500 dzieci. 


Na zakończenie Marszu Pamięci powiesiliśmy na parkanie otaczającym Dom Sierot Korczaka wstażki z imionami dzieci wywiezionych z Getta do obozu zagłady w Treblince,  dzieci, które znaliśmy, krewnych, o których slyszelismy lub czytalismy.  Piękna powstała barwna tęcza, a ja się zastanawiam czemu w dzieciństwie i młodosci, tak z nami o tym straszliwym czasie nie rozmawiali nasi rodzice, krewni, lub nauczyciele?  

People attached ribbons with Jewish names onto the fence of a former Jewish orphanage Dom Sierot run by Janusz Korczak, during final commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp


Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/22/3717452/poland-remembers-transports-from.html#storylink=cpy

Marsz 22 Lipca wyruszył spod Umschlagplatz, skąd odjeżdżały transporty śmierci i prowadził do Domu Sierot Janusza Korczaka na Krochmalnej 92. Na zakończenie Marszu Pamięci powiesiliśmy na parkanie otaczającym Dom Sierot Korczaka wstażki z imionami dzieci wywiezionych z Getta do obozu zagłady w Treblince, dzieci które znaliśmy, krewnych, o których słyszelismy lub czytalismy.  Powstała piękna barwna tęcza, a ja się zastanawiam czemu w dzieciństwie i młodosci,  o tym straszliwym czasie nie rozmawiali nasi rodzice, krewni, lub nauczyciele?  

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Korczak 22 juli 1942 - 22 juli 2012 - Nazisternas Logistik i Fyra Steg


Exakt 6 månader efter Wannsee, den 22 juli 1942, satte man igång Den stora aktionen (Großaktion Warschau) genom att sätta upp på husväggar i getto information om Förflyttning till Öst.
Aktionen skulle starta omedelbart vid Umschlagsplatz i Warszawa. Aktionen varade mellan två judiska högtidsdagar 23 Juli (Tisha B'Av) och 21 september (Yom Kippur). Förflyttning till öst innebar en plågsam transport i godsvagnar till Treblinka och där en plågsam död i gaskammare. Samma procedur. Dag efter dag, tills 265 000 var mördade och omvandlade till aska! Logistik i fyra steg. 


Detta hände dr. Janusz Korczak, hans 239 barn och alla lärare!



Steg 1.  Vid en konferens den 20 januari 1942 i Berlinförorten Wannsee, hade representanter för NSDAP och SS träffats för ett hemligt möte.Nazisterna gjorde upp planer för att organisera och koordinera deportationen och förintandet av den judiska befolkningen i Europa. Man gjorde upp ett protokoll. Sidan 6 i protokollet (bilden ovan) är en förteckning upprättad av Adolf Eichmann inför konferensen. Det är en uppställning av den judiska befolkningen i alla europeiska länder. En förintelselista på 11 miljoner människor.



Steg 2.  Bekanntmachung - Information som klistrades på gettots murar natten till den 22 juli 1942 om "beginnende Deportation aller Ghettobewohner nach dem Osten " d.v.s. deportation av gettoinvånare "Österut". Den officiella versionen var att judarna deporterades österut för att utnyttjas som billig arbetskraft. För att ge falska förhoppningar och lugna gettoinvånarna, står det längre ned att man skulle ta med mat för 3 dagar samt ta med alla värdesaker och guld.





Steg 3.  Under de inledande dagarna (22 juli - t.o.m 5 augusti) av Gross-aktionen rullade femton tåg från Warszawas getto till Treblinka. Nazisterna mördade 97 281 människor på den korta tiden. För varje tåg fanns en särskild Fahrplananordnung, en tysk färdplan om tågets tider och beskaffenhet. Varje tåg bestod  av ett 60-tal godsvagnar som gick i skytteltrafik direkt från Warszawa Gettots Umschlagplatz  (Warschau Danz Bf) till utrotningslägret i Treblinka. I tidtabellen Fahrplananordnung nr. 548, står det klart att tåget skall återvända "Leerzug zurück" - d.v.s. tomma tillbaka till Warschau Danz Bf för en ny last från Umschlagsplatzen.  Varje tåg bestod av 58 typ 1G godsvagnar och två godsvagnar av typ 1C (godsvagnar med en bromskur där SS-soldater satt). I "Färdplanen" kan man läsa att, från den 6.augusti 1942 tillsvidare, ett specialtåg med "flyttande" skall gå från Warsaw Danz BF  [Danzig Järnvägstation] till Treblinka och återvända samma dag tomma [Leerzug zurück]. 


Steg 4. Avstigningsplatsen i förintelselägret Treblinka såg bedrägligt fin och naturlig ut. Den falska stationsbyggnaden (2) hade gjorts så lik en riktig tågstation som möjligt. Man möttes av en stor skylt TREBLINKA och två mindre ”Väntsal” och ”Biljettexpedition”. Tidtabellerna fanns uppsatta på väggarna. Män, kvinnor och barn skildes åt direkt och fördes till avklädningsbarackerna (3). Vidare, drevs de nakna människorna med vrål och bajonetter längs en liten trädgårdsallé beströdd med sand kallad die Himmelstrasse – vägen till himmleriket. Himmelstrasse ledde till en byggnad (4) med tiotalet rum på femtio kvadratmeter. Vid ingången hängde ett stort skynke ”Detta är HERRENS port, de rättfärdiga skola gå in genom den”. Inne i byggnaden fanns det en mittgång med fem dörrar på vardera sidan. I en korridor stod en mängd blommor och på väggarna hängde handdukar - Duschrum. Ett duschrum som var en  gaskammare.   Man mördade upp till 15 000 människor på en dag. Gasningen tog cirka tjugo minuter i den äldre byggnaden och i den nya varade den i fyrtiofem minuter. Treblinka kom att bli det mest perfekta av nazisternas förintelseläger, en dödsfabrik med en högeffektiv produktion av lik med aska som slutprodukt. Den helt ”färdiga” askan skulle vara ren från minsta benfragment. 

Skissen ovan gjord av Treblinkas kommendant Franz Stangl  (från Bundesarchiv).