He Could Have Fled. He Stayed: What Janusz Korczak Taught Me About True Education

He could have fled. He didn’t. Janusz Korczak stayed with the children of his orphanage to the very end, even when it meant walking with them towards death.

But before this ultimate sacrifice, he was above all a visionary educator. One of the first to speak of children’s rights, to see children as full persons, and not as little beings to be dominated.

Sometimes you come across a sentence, just one, that pierces you gently but lastingly. For me, it was this:

“You say: ‘It is exhausting to work with children.’ You are right. You add: ‘Because we have to put ourselves on their level. Lower ourselves, bend down, stoop, make ourselves small.’ There you are wrong. It is not so much that which tires us, as the fact of being obliged to raise ourselves to the height of their feelings. To raise ourselves, to stretch up, to stand on tiptoe, to reach. So as not to hurt them.”

I discovered it in 2011, in a blog post written by a mum, when I was already in the Montessori world. And honestly? I was exhausted! Getting up, sitting down, running after one child then going back to another, all morning. And then, these words. A slap. A balm.

I didn’t even know who wrote them. But they touched me, truly. It was only four years later, in my first year of an Education Sciences degree, that I discovered the man behind the sentence: Janusz Korczak. And I understood he wasn’t just a fine mind… but a man who stood tall, to the end.

There is a regret that weighs on me as I write these lines. Korczak gave his life so that every child would matter.

I can’t write about Korczak without thinking of the children today who suffer war, all over the world. Still today, children die under bombs wherever war passes, in Gaza as elsewhere. As a mum and an educator, one thing seems essential to me: a child’s life has no nationality and no side. Korczak defended that to the end. It is up to us not to forget it.

Jerusalem, Yad Vashem memorial: sculpture in tribute to Janusz Korczak, shown with the children of his orphanage. Note the small white pebbles placed on the statue in various places, which look like delicate flower petals fallen from a tree.

Who was Janusz Korczak? (and why he deserves to be much better known)

Janusz Korczak, whose real name was Henryk Goldszmit, was a doctor, writer, educator… and a deeply committed soul. He founded an orphanage in Warsaw in the early 20th century, where he dared to let children live a real democracy. A children’s court. Collective management. Shared decisions. He was a forerunner, long before anyone spoke of children’s rights.

But what moves me most is his final choice: to stay with his orphans, even when the Nazis came for them. He could have got out. He refused. He boarded the train to Treblinka with them. In silence. Out of loyalty. Out of love.

Why this man marked me for life

When I read his biography, I was stunned. What he wrote, he lived. He didn’t theorise from an ivory tower. He embodied every word.

And above all, he gave me a vision of the child I had never met anywhere else. Not as a miniature adult. Not as a being to be “trained”. But as a full person, with their mysteries, their truths, their own language.

What I take from him and pass on in turn

This is what Janusz Korczak taught me, and what I try to embody as a mum and educator:

• A child is a person. Not an adult’s project.
• Respecting them sometimes means being willing to question yourself.
• Every behaviour has a meaning. Nothing is trivial.
• Supporting a child is a commitment. A real one.
• To love is also to trust. Even when it’s hard.

A quotation to keep close to your heart

“Fever, cough and vomiting are to the doctor what a smile, a tear and red cheeks are to the educator. There is no symptom without meaning. Everything must be noted and everything submitted to reflection.”

A striking anecdote

On the morning of 12 January 2018, during an English lesson with a group of newcomers, I took advantage of the presence of Izabella, a young Polish woman who had just arrived, to ask her a question that was burning my lips: “Is Janusz Korczak well known in Poland?”

She looked at me thoughtfully, as if searching her memory. The name seemed familiar, but she couldn’t say from where. I took out my phone, looked for a photo of Korczak, and then… a flash of memory. Yes, she had seen him before. She vaguely remembered studying some of his texts at school, without being able to tell me which.

I was surprised. Disappointed too. Even in his own country, this great man is barely recognised. Yet he sacrificed his life rather than abandon his orphans. Every Polish pupil should know his name. And every educator in the world should read at least one of his works.

Conclusion and an invitation

Janusz Korczak is, in my eyes, one of the greatest educators the world has known. And yet he too often remains in the shadow of figures like Montessori or Steiner. That is also why I am writing this article: to help people (re)discover him, to keep his ideas alive, and to honour his unwavering loyalty to the child.

And you, did you know Janusz Korczak? Does his journey speak to you? What does it evoke in you as a parent, a woman, an educator?
And if this article spoke to you, share it with a friend, a colleague, a mum… who might need that light today.
— Bouchra