Janusz Korczak, born in Poland in 1878, was a Jewish doctor, educator, and children’s author who devoted his life to advocating for children’s rights and dignity. In the early 1900s, he founded two orphanages in Warsaw, both dedicated to fostering children’s independence and empowering them to become experts at whatever interested them. Korczak believed children deserved as much respect as any adult, a value reflected in all of his work.

When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1940, Korczak’s orphanage was moved into the Warsaw ghetto. Though he was given several opportunities to escape the ghetto, Korczak refused to leave his children behind. And he stuck with them in August of 1942, rejecting one last opportunity to escape and instead accompanying 200 of “his” children to Treblinka.

‍