Essay delivered at 4th Embassy of Poland Annual Lecture, University of Ottawa, on November 6, 2002. It renders main studies on Janusz Korczak published in special issues of Dialogue and Universalism (nos. 9-10/1997, 9-10/2001), putting emphasis on the philosophical dimensions of Korczak’s vision of society.

Autorinnen und Autoren aus Polen, Deutschland, Österreich, der Schweiz, den Niederlanden, Israel und Kanada legen in den Beiträgen dieses Bandes ihre neuesten Forschungsergebnisse vor. Im ersten Teil nähern sie sich unter spezifischen Fragestellungen der Person und dem Werk Janusz Korczaks. Der zweite Teil befasst sich mit seiner erzieherischen Praxis und zeigt, welche Elemente der Pädagogik Korczaks in der gegenwärtigen Erziehungspraxis von entscheidender Bedeutung sind.

We can view Janusz Korczak’s concept of “deciphering hieroglyphs” as an imperative for us to leave our own conceptual world and become open to the mystery and “Otherness” of the other. According to Emmanuel Levinas, the relationship with another person is also a mystery that escapes all definitions and demands attitudes to be revised—in order for there to be a readiness to be open to that Otherness. Such openness is a kind of hermeneutical approach and a particular interpretation which (...) is the polar opposite of analytical cognition. Levinas and Ouaknin call this interpretation a “caress”, which is the subject’s way of being when confronted with the Other. There is evidence to suggest that Korczak’s approach to children and the role of the educator are very similar to Levinas’ idea of “caress”. (shrink)

This article focuses on analysis of the international controversy provoked by the posthumous awarding of the 1972 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade to the Jewish-Polish physician, pedagogue and writer Janusz Korczak (1878/79–1942). The controversy, which centred around the recipient of the prize money, can be identified as an important catalyst both for the popularisation of the Korczak movement and for the institutionalisation of Korczak research in Germany, particularly in the field of pedagogical research. The article (...) investigates the various interests and goals of memory policy actors in academia, business, politics and the media, and emphasizes the very strong link between Korczak's oeuvre and Holocaust remembrance, in the light of correspondences, manuscripts and press reports about this award ceremony. The mechanisms of the reciprocal transfer of attention between scholars and the public are examined from the perspective of memory studies and the history of science, particularly with regard to their specific influence on the establishment of German-language Korczak research. (shrink)

The author portrays the reception of Janusz Korczak’s writings and ideas in Israel. She presents Israeli writers both Polish- and Israeli-born, considering their writings as consequence of extensive interest in universal values and universal figure suck as Janusz Korczak.

This paper explores the biographical and cultural sources that inspired the decision of Janusz Korczak to make his life’s vocation the education of young children from dysfunctional families. This decision emerged out of the radical version of humanism he embraced. His identification of children as the population his humanist ethos must serve, distinguishes it from other versions of humanism. The paper explores the role his sense of self and his identification with Poles, Jews, and humanity play in the composition (...) of this humanism. It identifies the hybridity of his cultural identifications as its heart. It proposes that the tensions between these identifications in general, and his non-Jewish Jewish identification that situated him as being ‘a part of’ and ‘apart from’ Polish society in particular, induced Korczak to create a universal religion of children in which religious, ethnic, or physical distinctions do not generate prejudice, intolerance, and violence. (shrink)