Dlaczego „Janusz Korczak”?
Why “Janusz Korczak”?

The Pseudonym’s Origin and Family Tradition

Summary/Abstract: The article presents Janusz Korczak’s private and family connections with the figure and literary creativity of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. The starting point here is the choice of the pseudonym adopted from one of Kraszewski’s novels entitled “Historia o Janaszu Korczaku i pięknej miecznikównie” (“Janasz Korczak and the Pretty Swordsweeperlady”). Contrary to the common opinion, the choice was not accidental as it marked the bonds that linked the future writer with Kraszewski. The ideology of Jewish integration movement the advocates of which were Korczak’s father and his paternal uncle (Józef and Jakub Goldszmit, journalists of “Izraelita”) further added to with ideology which was also supported by Kraszewski. Korczak and Kraszewski’s common places also include the defence of subjective character of emancipation encompassing the commonalty, the Jews, and children.

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