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Went to the head of his disciples to death: Janusz Korczak the Haredi | Israel today

2021-04-07T12:35:04.318Z


| Jewish News Rabbi Kurtzman was called the father of the orphans • Although he could save himself he accompanied his adopted children the last way • Now his 86-year-old grandson will carry a beacon in his memory Even when Rabbi Alter David Kurtzman, 14, was offered to save himself from the deportations, he refused and chose to accompany the hundreds of orphans he educated to the Belzec extermination camp, whe


Rabbi Kurtzman was called the father of the orphans • Although he could save himself he accompanied his adopted children the last way • Now his 86-year-old grandson will carry a beacon in his memory

Even when Rabbi Alter David Kurtzman, 14, was offered to save himself from the deportations, he refused and chose to accompany the hundreds of orphans he educated to the Belzec extermination camp, where he was murdered with them in the gas chambers. This week, his legacy will be recognized when his 86-year-old grandson, , Will light a beacon in his memory at the closing rally of Holocaust and Heroism Day to be held at the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum.

Rabbi Alter David HaCohen Kurtzman was born in 1865 and was one of the founders of Agudat Israel World and president of Agudat Israel in Krakow, Poland, where he also served as president and director of the Orphan Towers Orphanage, and because of his dedication and concern he was called the "Father of Orphans".

He was also a respected social activist, one of the founders of the Beit Yaakov and Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin Teachers' Seminary and one of the yeshiva's directors.

At the beginning of 1941, after the conquest of Krakow by the Nazis, the orphanage run by Rabbi Kurtzman was transferred to the ghetto, but despite the difficult conditions and at risk of daily life, Rabbi Kurtzman worked to fill the shortage of orphaned children, while maintaining values ​​and observance.

In October 1942, an aktion was held in the ghetto, during which 300 children from the orphanage were taken to the trains.

Although Rabbi Kurtzman was able to save himself, he refused and chose to march at the head of his orphaned students to the carriages, along with his daughter, son-in-law, the director of the orphanage and other employees.

They all perished together in the Belzec camp. 

Marcel Kurtzman's parents fled with him to Russia when the war broke out, but "when we returned to Poland after the war," he recalled painfully, "we passed through the Majdanek extermination camp, where we saw bone remains, hair and utensils, all scattered across the field, and then Dad said That something similar happened to Grandpa. Until then we knew nothing and even then we did not talk about it again. Mother told stories about Grandpa at home, but they did not talk about it. We also only learned about Grandpa going to the orphanage to death many years after the war. In fact, almost everything we know today about Grandpa is the result of the research of a Polish writer who stumbled upon his heroic story and shared the similarity between it and the story of Janusz Korczak, who reviewed the archives and researched the subject, and then contacted us, the family. "Yes, no one in the family knew it was like that."

"Grandpa was a rich man with financial management ability who started with a small iron and metal products agency, which soon became a successful and very profitable family business that grew and expanded until it became a very large company that officially represented two of the largest smelting corporations in Poland. His managerial knowledge and acquaintance with community leaders is Harness in favor of the orphanage he ran.At that time the orphans were not so much considered, but Grandpa worked together with industrialists and other businessmen to change the face of his orphanage, and thanks to them it became one of the largest and most luxurious in Poland.They had study rooms, gymnasiums, "Dining rooms, help with studies, etc. They also introduced vocational studies, so that the orphans do not have to rely on the public."

Polish Jewry was almost completely annihilated by the Nazis and their aides, and perhaps Kurtzman's story would have been lost in oblivion, "had it not been for the Holocaust survivors' attitude would have become more positive and sympathetic," as Marcel says, an attitude that encouraged him to take his grandfather's and legacy. About his grandfather and his orphanage and a book about my resume, "he explains," because sometimes I myself ask how it was then and what they did, and no one will answer, because that generation is dying, so I write so that if the next generation asks, they will have an answer. For me people knew what was there and it was important to me that people knew my grandfather's will, that the person's morals, behavior and attitude towards another person were even more important than his life. His refusal to accept the Germans' offer to separate from the children was rejected out of hand and out of personal choice. "To the death at the head of about 300 orphans, together with the faithful principal Anna Feuerstein, with his daughter Hela and her husband and her husband David Shmalka. In Poland it is already known, and there is talk of the 'Polish Jew Kurtzman' who dedicated his life so that the orphans do not feel abandoned in their last moments." .

Indeed, the legacy of Rabbi Alter David HaCohen Kurtzman has gained considerable official recognition in Poland - in his hometown Krakow a new street was recently named after him, memorial plaques were erected in his memory in Warsaw, Lublin and other cities, and in the city of Stragget the street parallel to Korczak Street is merged into Gibori Street. The ghetto;

In Israel, on the other hand, Rabbi Kurtzman's legacy has received relatively little recognition, when in 2014 a street was named after Kurtzman in Rishon Lezion. 

Are you excited for the rally where you will light a beacon in memory of a tangle?

"Certainly. After years of ignoring by various factors, suddenly lighting a beacon at the main rally? It's very exciting. Who dreamed of such a thing?".

Yigal Cohen, director of the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum, said: "Marcel Kurtzman was chosen to light the beacon in memory of and in honor of his great grandfather and educator David Alter Kurtzman, nicknamed 'The Haredi Janusz Korczak'.

"The grandson and his grandfather are for us an inspiring and exciting expression of the power of 'spiritual resistance' and an exemplary example of education and dedication."

The closing rally of Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which Marcel Kurtzman will light a beacon in memory of his grandfather, will be held this year under the sign "Last Offspring" - Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel after their entire family perished and fell in the Israeli battles - on Thursday, April 8, in Kibbutz Lohamei Haghetaot And other survivors.

The rally will be broadcast here 11. 

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-04-07

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