The King of Children (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Betty Jean Lifton
- First Published: 1988
- Type of Work: Biography
- Time of Work: 1878-1942
- Setting: Warsaw, Poland
- Principal Characters: Janusz Korczak (Henryk Goldszmit), Stefania (Stefa) Wilczynska, Maryna Rogowska Falska
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Child rearing or parenting, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Human rights, Education or educators, 1940’s, World War II, Doctors, 1910’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, Jews or Jewish life, Nazism or Nazis, Orphans or orphanages, Holocaust, Jewish, Poland or Polish people, Concentration camps, 1900’s
- Locales: Warsaw, Poland
Betty Jean Lifton has written about children a number of times; however, the subject of Janusz Korczak was new to her, as it will be to most American readers. After hearing about him from a European friend, she began to investigate his life and works. The result is a highly detailed portrait of a very unusual man who defended the rights and welfare of the child despite the ignorance, apathy, intolerance, and war that marked his era.
Janusz Korczak was born Henryk Goldszmit in 1878 to middle-class Jewish parents in Warsaw. Lifton writes movingly about how young Henryk was not...
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