The Jewish Roots of Janusz Korczak's Thought

Abstract

The essay focuses on the Jewish roots of Janusz Korczak’s biography (family and education) and vision, as well as on his Jewish connections within the Jewish network of the Polish capital. It also explores his religiosity, in terms of sentiments and secular morality more than in traditional and institutional forms. In particular, the essay considers his adhesion to Zionism, understood as a unique social experiment aimed to the creation of a new humanistic society and a new pedagogical approach, where the respect of the personality of the ‘child’ and of his/her rights is the paradigm and the paradigmatic, almost messianic, central value.