Strong and deep as the roots of an oak tree. The search for the ‘missing’ childhood in the writings of Janusz Korczak

Abstract

The contribution explores the two conditions of orphanhood in the writings of Janusz Korczak, starting from his own condition as orphan: the condition of child who loses his parents and the condition of child who is not respected by the adult in his emotional needs. It refers to Korczak's reflections relating to the centrality of mother-child bond and adult-child relationship in the construction of personal and social identity and to his nostalgic autobiographical reconciliation with his own roots, including cultural ones.