When the Dr. Korczak Terrace is dedicated here next Sunday, it will mark the first time that any community will have named a street in honor of one of the Jewish martyrs killed by the Nazis during their reign of power, officials said here today. Dr. Janusz Korczak, a decorated hero of Poland who headed an orphanage for Jewish children in Warsaw, went to his death with 292 orphans, after refusing an offer to have his life spared. The event occurred in 1942, and the German, officer who offered to spare Dr. Korczak’s life did so because when he was a child, he himself had been a ward of Dr. Korczak in that same orphanage. The story of Dr. Korczak, his life and his death, will be recounted when the street is dedicated in his memory. Senator Ralph Smith will be among the speakers at the ceremony, as well as representatives of Israel and the Jewish community in Chicag. Dr. Paul Hurwitz, associate general chairman of the Israel Bond campaign in Chicago, is chairman of the committee planning the dedication. Mayor Albert Smith of Skokie, who was instrumental in having the street named in memory of Dr. Korczak, is honorary chairman. The 300 families, all victims of the Nazi concentration camps, who now reside here and neighboring communities, organized the Janusz Korczak Lodge of B’nai B’rith several years ago. It was through their petitioning that the village of Skokie made the decision to dedicate the street in honor of the Polish-Jewish martyr.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
