Page 52 - Issue4-November2017_online_opt
P. 52
Irena Sendler
sick child in the night, and you do not leave a child at a time
like this,” he said. The German SS officer leading the proces-
sion laughed and told the professor to come along, then, if he
wished, and good-naturedly, the German asked a 12-year-old
boy carrying a violin to play a tune. The children set off from
the orphanage singing.
Dr. Janusz Korczak
Irena, witnessing this, understood that the doctor had kept
from them any fear or knowledge of what was happening.
Though the streets were practically empty, dozens watched
from their windows or street corners in astounded silence as
they witnessed the doctor’s three mile walk through the ghet-
to with the orphans. The doctor’s face was a frozen mask of
hard-won self-control. Irena knew that he was already sick and
struggling, but this morning his back was straight, and he was
carrying one of the weary toddlers.
Irena thought, “Am I dreaming? Is this possible? What is
the possible guilt of the children?” On the empty street corner,
her eyes met the doctor’s for a moment. He did not stop to
greet her. He said nothing. He just kept walking. The children
marched in rows of four and then Irena saw what the littlest
ones were carrying. In their hands, they held the dolls that Dr.
Witwicki, her old psychology professor at the University of War-
saw, had carved for them. Irena herself had smuggled the dolls
through the ghetto checkpoints and given them to the children.
At the Umschlagplatz, the guards drove them with whips
and rifle butts into holding grounds. Germans, Ukrainians,
and Jewish policemen towered over the children’s heads bark-
ing orders. Ala and the “fake doctors” only saw the children at
the last moment when the boarding of the freight trains was
44 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
sick child in the night, and you do not leave a child at a time
like this,” he said. The German SS officer leading the proces-
sion laughed and told the professor to come along, then, if he
wished, and good-naturedly, the German asked a 12-year-old
boy carrying a violin to play a tune. The children set off from
the orphanage singing.
Dr. Janusz Korczak
Irena, witnessing this, understood that the doctor had kept
from them any fear or knowledge of what was happening.
Though the streets were practically empty, dozens watched
from their windows or street corners in astounded silence as
they witnessed the doctor’s three mile walk through the ghet-
to with the orphans. The doctor’s face was a frozen mask of
hard-won self-control. Irena knew that he was already sick and
struggling, but this morning his back was straight, and he was
carrying one of the weary toddlers.
Irena thought, “Am I dreaming? Is this possible? What is
the possible guilt of the children?” On the empty street corner,
her eyes met the doctor’s for a moment. He did not stop to
greet her. He said nothing. He just kept walking. The children
marched in rows of four and then Irena saw what the littlest
ones were carrying. In their hands, they held the dolls that Dr.
Witwicki, her old psychology professor at the University of War-
saw, had carved for them. Irena herself had smuggled the dolls
through the ghetto checkpoints and given them to the children.
At the Umschlagplatz, the guards drove them with whips
and rifle butts into holding grounds. Germans, Ukrainians,
and Jewish policemen towered over the children’s heads bark-
ing orders. Ala and the “fake doctors” only saw the children at
the last moment when the boarding of the freight trains was
44 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
