To mark the 20th anniversary of Ireland’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, The Irish Jewish Museum along with the Museum of Childhood Project and Holocaust Education Trust Ireland have brought the London Jewish Museum’s exhibition Janusz Korzcak-Champion of the Child to Ireland.
Janusz Korczak came to represent the rights of street children and orphans in Warsaw in the early 20th century, introducing the first progressive orphanages for Jewish and Catholic children. He hosted a children’s radio programme, founded the first children’s newspaper and testified on behalf of children in juvenile courts. The exhibition also explores how life in Poland became increasingly difficult for Korczak after the Nazi occupation. In 1940, his Jewish orphanage was moved inside the Warsaw Ghetto and on 5/6 August 1942 he was forced to gather together the 200 orphans in his care for deportation. Refusing all offers for his own rescue, Korczak accompanied the children on the train that would take them to the Treblinka death camp, preferring to die with the children under his protection rather than abandon them.
Secondary School teachers are encouraged to visit the exhibition at the library with your students over 14 years.
Click on a link below to find the library opening hours:
DUBLIN DLR LEXICON LIBRARY – 23rd April to 7th May
GALWAY CITY LIBRARY – 8th to 31st May
LIBRARY – June 1st to 30th, (location to be confirmed)
BELFAST CENTRAL LIBRARY – 1st to 31st July
CORK CITY LIBRARY – 1st to 31st August