Dziecięce autobiografie w „Małym Przeglądzie” jako źródło historyczne

Abstract

Janusz Korczak appreciated children's biographies and published them in the magazine he edited, "Mały Przegląd". From today's point of view, some of these diaries/memoirs absolutely should not have been published. They violated the privacy of children, both the authors of the diaries and the friends they described. In the context of the publication in "Mały Przegląd", it is worth considering to what extent Korczak's words about the "right to silence" and "respect for children's secrets" were respected by him. Korczak required his correspondents to write the absolute truth, also in the case of diaries, and sometimes their truthfulness was verified. The firm order to write the absolute truth, the shortcuts made by the editors that change the essence of the statement, make us wonder who the autobiographical texts were intended to serve. Some autobiographies indicate that they were selected to serve Korczak's educational ideas or to fit into the Zionist model of forming a "new man". In autobiographies and memoirs, the educational line of "Mały Przegląd" is visible to a greater extent than in letters. Therefore, I would like to put forward the thesis that some of them were, to some extent, used instrumentally, despite Korczak's noble statements.

Keywords

• autobiographies
• Jews
• children
• Janusz Korczak