Israeli Artist Remembers Legendary Holocaust Victim

Today, Belfer, a 92-year-old grandfather living in Israel, is the last of Korczak's orphans able to recall interactions with the doctor, author and educator who revolutionized the cause of children's welfare and became a national icon in Poland, with streets, schools and monuments honoring him. Belfer's Tel Aviv apartment is filled with dozens of his sculptures and paintings bearing Korczak's distinctive image: bald head, trim goatee and round, wire-rimmed glasses. With the help of wealthy benefactors, he founded a progressive orphanage for Jewish children in 1912 and another one for non-Jews. After the Nazi occupation of 1939, the orphanage was ordered to be moved into the walled Jewish Ghetto, where Korczak shielded his wards from starvation and deportation. Because of Korczak's prominence, the Polish underground offered to sneak him out of the ghetto to safety. Many ghetto diary entries documented the chilling scene of that march, which became an epic symbol of Nazi cruelty. By what right? Because I was 16 and I thought the world was harming me and I needed to run away from this evil, he said, his eyes welling up with tears.

Topics:  today   israel   poland   belfer's tel aviv   jewish ghetto   polish   because i   belfer   i   korczak   jewish   nazi   orphanage   

 

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