lwiza_994Description
September 1, 1939. Sixty-year-old Janusz Korczak and the students and teachers at his Dom Sierot Jewish orphanage are outside enjoying a beautiful day in Warsaw. Hours later, their lives are altered forever when the Nazis invade. Suddenly treated as an outcast in his own city, Janusz—a respected leader known for his heroism and teaching—is determined to do whatever it takes to protect the children from the horrors to come.
When over four hundred thousand Jewish people are rounded up and forced to live in the 1.3-square-mile walled compound of the Warsaw ghetto, Janusz and his friends take drastic measures to shield the children from disease and starvation. With dignity and courage, the teachers and students of Dom Sierot create their own tiny army of love and bravely prepare to march toward the future—whatever it may hold.
Unforgettable, devastating, and inspired by a real-life hero of the Holocaust, The Teacher of Warsaw reminds the world that one single person can incite meaning, hope, and love.
Eldon Frami @lwiza_994
August 9, 2022
4
Mario Escobar has once again written a moving story of children's lives upended by war. The story, though a work of fiction, is largely based on real life pediatrician and teacher Janusz Korczak during his time running an orphanage for Jewish children in occupied Warsaw, Poland. The author's note at the end of the book is extremely helpful in sorting fact from fiction, and this book has a healthy dose of fact. The book also has a healthy dose of insight into humanity, insight that remains true for our current national and world experiences. Escobar's writing style is at once simple and complex, enlightening and depressing, entertaining and educational, but mostly it is empowering.