The Legacy of Janusz Korzcak
Artist: DeeDee Lichtenberg-Scanlan
Assemblage of collected artifacts
This art piece represents a part of the life work of Janus Korczak, a champion of children, through the horrors of the Holocaust. This six paned window and six yahrzeit candles honor the six million Jewish people who were murdered during World War II. One of the windows is cracked symbolizing crystalnacht, the night of broken glass and dreams, the beginning of the worst of the atrocities. The remaining windows include maps of the Warsaw Ghetto and the street where the Orphanage stood. Resting on the window is an old atlas from the late 1930’s…it is opened to a map of Eastern Europe and leaning on two of Korczak’s most famous books, one for children, and the other documenting the events of the Warsaw Ghetto. Growing out of the atlas is the orphanage where he housed, clothed and fed 200 orphans. The portrait of the “old Doctor”, some of his many famous sayings, and a replica of the cattle car which took Janus and his children to the death camp, are also represented. This piece is charred as were Janus Korczak’s life and the lives of his children. We remember him on Yom Hashoah and all of the nameless who vanished with this special man.