St-Petersburg Festival of Tolerance 2008

The Festival of Tolerance dedicated to Korczak

In St-Petersburg, Russia, the yearly Festival of Tolerance was dedicated this year 2008 to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Korczak. The report by Irina Gurvich (Korczak Association in STP).

The Festival of Tolerance dedicated to the 130 year anniversary of Janusz Korczak took place on November 12th – 14th in St. Petersburg, organizer by the Jewish charitable organization of St. Petersburg "Eva".

The festival was held with the support and direct participation of such organizations as:

• The Korczak Information and Cultural Center of Tolerance
• St. Petersburg Korczak Society
• Central Library named after K. Paustovsky
• Interregional Scientific and Educational Center and the Foundation "Holocaust", and many others.

The festival took place in ESOD House of Jewish Culture, which is the center of Jewish cultural life of St. Petersburg. The festival included the following compositions:
The festival included an exhibition titled "Janusz Korczak - A heart given to children", children's drawing contest dedicated to the life and work of Janusz Korczak. The exhibition was organized by our center with Eva.

We had a lot of excursions for schoolchildren and teachers. About 500 people attended the exhibition.


Аlla Gurvich, director of the Korczak Information and Cultural Center of Tolerance, told schoolchildren about Janusz Korczak, his personality, his books known in Russia, about his unique experience of raising orphans, the pedagogical ideas contained in books "How to love a child" and "The child's right to respect". The children learned about the major principles of Korczak's educational ideas and his life's main work - House of orphans.

There also was a literary/musical composition "Korczak" - presented by a Jewish cultural center "Aleph" (the city of Rostov-on-Don). The composition is based on a poem "Kaddish" by Alexander Galich (the poem's dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust and Janusz Korczak, who shared the fate of his children). The composition "Korczak" became diplomant of the First International Festival of Jewish drama theaters in Moscow.

There also was a screening of the film "Korczak" by Andrzej Wajda, provided by The Korczak Information and Cultural Center of Tolerance.

The second day of the festival was a day of workshops for teachers of St. Petersburg schools - "The lessons of the Holocaust - the road to Tolerance", which was focused on such topics as:

• Criteria for tolerance
• Intolerance and its manifestations
• Janusz Korczak and the Humanistic Education

The host of the round table "Parenting in a spirit of tolerance" was Michael Epstein. He, along with Valery Puzyrevskim, held a seminar for teachers "Janusz Korczak and humanistic education".

The exhibition "The lessons of the Holocaust" has also been held by The Korczak Information and Cultural Center of Tolerance. The Center presented a lot of books, articles, photos and other materials.

Closing the festival ended with a solemn giving of certificates to the participants and organizers of the festival. We would like to note that such a festival markedly contributes to the raising the cultural level and the development of the Petersburg schools, universities, professors, students and schoolchildren.

Irina Gurvich/Ирина Гурвич

A Korczak exhibition in London

A Korczak exhibition in London
5th Dec/8th April, 2007

The Jewish Museum of London in Camden Town is presenting an exhibition on Janusz Korczak in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute.

Janusz Korczak, “champion of the child”, devoted his life to persuading society to recognise the rights of the child, regardless of nationality or religion. The exhibition shows the influence of his teaching on respect for children in the world of today. It will present the paintings and the drawings of Janusz Korczak by the Israeli artist Itzchak Belfer, who was born in Poland in 1923 and brought up in the Jewish orphanage in Warsaw.

The exhibition is produced in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute with an extended program of meetings, debates and workshops for children.

IJK Team - As this was a great event (first time in UK),
we have been visited it for you!

More :

• The notice of the exhibition to print [PDF 1 p., 68 Ko]
• http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/temporary.asp?article=112
• Invitation, press release and full program [PDF 216 Ko, 4 p.]

A Korczak exhibition in Pézenas (FR)

The city of Pézenas, France (34), welcomes Korczak
7th Nov/5th Dec., 06

As a teacher and a writer who devoted his life to the protection and defence of children, Janusz Korczak is this year's principal author at the festival of literature for the youth of the country around Pézenas.

Pézenas is a very pretty, small city in Herault (34), known as home to Molière and the birthplace of the famous French composer-songwriter, singer, poet and humorist Bobby Lapointe, and there is always a great deal of cultural activity there.

For their third festival, which is to be called “The fish’s mother”, the organizers' objective is to stress respect for the rights of the children and to defend their access to culture as private individuals and their participation as citizens in society. The example of Janusz Korczak, his life and his work, and this exhibition which describes in detail the actual operation of Korczak's two small “Children's Republics” in Warsaw between the two wars, is rich in references to and reflexions on these themes.

The exhibition has been set up in the middle of the city's large media library, which is very well-used. All the schools in the area have been invited to come to see it. Classes and groups have the advantage of a special introduction carried out by a whole team of trained volunteers. A teaching pack and videos are available to the teachers and organizers.

Games are planned for the children. The excellent French telefilm about Janusz Korczak by Claude Couderc: “The last good-bye with the children” will be shown at the city cinema.

The inauguration on November 8 was the occasion for a long moment of discovery and discussion about Korczak's ideas on education and children (the child as neither king nor object; neither possessive love, nor exclusion; confidence, comprehension, respect for the world of the child with its uniqueness and its mysteries; absolute respect for the inalienable rights of the child, etc). Many classes have registered already. We have the opportunity to make this event a popular and valuable success with children.

Bernard Lathuillere
Report (in French) and slide-show