Janusz Korczak (Dr Henryk Goldszmit) (1878/9–1942) is a man of whom the majority of paediatricians are unaware. A doctor, early child psychologist, children’s advocate, writer, broadcaster and playwright, he pioneered in his practice and ideas many areas which today would be regarded as mainstream paediatric care. He was a man who devoted his life to children and their welfare.

An early children’s advocate, he wrote the first Children’s Charter. “Korczak spoke of the need for a Declaration of Children’s Rights long before any such document was drawn up by the Geneva Convention (1924) or the United Nations General Assembly (1959). The Declaration he envisaged—not a plea for good will but a demand for action—was left uncompleted at the time of his death”.¹

His last years were spent running a children’s home in the Warsaw Ghetto during the early years of the Second World War.

In August 1942, he and the children were marched to the railway station for transportation for “resettlement”. At the station he was recognised by a German medical officer …