Stefania Wilczyńska

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Stefania Wilczyńska (1927)

Stefania Wilczyńska (born May 26, 1886 in Warsaw , † probably on August 6, 1942 in Treblinka ; together with the children entrusted to her) was a Polish-Jewish teacher and educator and a close collaborator of Janusz Korczak .

Life

As the daughter of Julian (Isaac) Wilczyński and Salomea geb. Walfisz Stefania grew up in a Polish Jewish family in Warsaw. After attending a private girls' school run by Jadwiga Sikorska , she studied natural sciences at the University of Liège in Belgium . In 1912 she came as a volunteer to the "Dom Sierot" ("Orphanage") founded by Janusz Korczak in Kromalna Street 92 in Warsaw, a home for Jewish orphans, where she very soon took on leadership roles and, together with Korczak, introduced innovative pedagogical methods. who respected the individual personality of the children. Stefania Wilczyńska described herself as a student of Maria Montessori . During the First World War and during Korczak's trips to Palestine in 1934 and 1936 she took over the sole management of the house. She herself also repeatedly traveled to Palestine and lived in Kibbutz En Harod from 1935 onwards . Although she seriously considered staying in Palestine, she came back to Warsaw in 1939 to the Dom Sierot and worked with Janusz Korczak in Treblinka until they both died.

Activity in the Warsaw Ghetto

With the beginning of the Second World War , massive discrimination, separation and persecution of Jews by the German occupiers began in occupied Poland . After the order to relocate the Jewish population of Warsaw to the Warsaw Ghetto in October 1940, the Dom Sierot also had to move, as the building was just outside the specified city quarter. This was then moved to the ghetto, first to 33 Chłodna Street and later to 16 Sienna Street and 9 Śliska Street. Wilczyńska managed the move of the orphanage, as Korczak was imprisoned at the time. Together with Korczak, she played a key role in ensuring that the around 200 children were looked after, despite the cruel reality of the ghetto, and comparatively protected until they were deported to Treblinka .

Deportation and death

Symbolic grave of Stefania Wilczyńska in the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw

In August 1942, the approximately 200 children from the orphanage were picked up by the SS for transport to the Treblinka extermination camp . Although it was known that this meant death, Wilczyńska and Korczak did not want to abandon the children and insisted on going with them.

Her symbolic grave is located on her parents' grave in the main avenue of the Jewish cemetery on Okopowa Street in Warsaw (Quartier 64, Row 1).

Appreciation

Stefania Wilczyńska has been portrayed several times in films about Korczak by different actresses. Her person also plays a role in the tragical Im Schatten der Mauer .

bibliography

  • Wilczyńska, Stefania: Słowo do dzieci i wychowawców , 2004. 262 pages.

literature

  • Shimon Sachs: Stefa - Stefania Wilczynska's everyday educational work in the Janusz Korczaks orphanage , 196 pages, 1989. ISBN 3-7799-0590-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the footsteps of Janusz Korczak and his pedagogy - Korczak's staff (PDF; 38 kB)
  2. ↑ not this Jadwiga Sikorska (-> wiki.pl)
  3. ↑ Caring for others. In: Lichtflecke - To be a woman in the Holocaust. The Authority for the Remembrance of the Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust, accessed June 1, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Mansoon Ahn: The dignity of the child: on the position of the child in the educational and religious anthropology of Maria Montessori. Lit Verlag, 1st edition, July 2008, ISBN 3-8258-1532-3 , p. 111.
  5. ^ Stefania 'Stefa' Wilczynska (Character). In: International Movie Database. IMDB, accessed June 1, 2013 .
  6. ↑ The tragical In the Shadow of the Wall ( Homepage of the music group fuenfbrotezweifische.de ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fuenfbrotezweifische.de )
  7. ^ Stefania Wilczyńska: Word to the children and teachers. Muzeum Historyczne m.st. Warszawy, accessed June 1, 2013 (Polish).
personal data
SURNAME Wilczyńska, Stefania
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilczyńska, Stefa; Mrs. Stefa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish-Jewish teacher and educator
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: August 6, 1942
Place of death Treblinka