A memorial tablet dedicated to Polish-Jewish educator Janusz Korczak, killed in the Treblinka extermination camp 70 years ago, was inaugurated in the ombudsman's office in Budapest on Monday.
Korczak, originally called Henryk Goldszmit, was a teacher, children's author and paediatrician who worked as an orphanage director in Warsaw. He turned down the chance of freedom in order to stay with his orphans who were sent from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka in August 1942.
"Protecting life is one of the main missions of the state," Parliamentary State Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Nemeth, stated at the inauguration ceremony.
After Auschwitz and Treblinka, national responsibility has assumed a new meaning in this region, he said, adding that "we have a homeland and have responsibility for protecting those entrusted to us.”
Polish Ambassador to Hungary Roman Kowalski said that Korczak's work as a teacher had had a major impact on the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Israeli Ambassador to Hungary Ilan Mor, stated that he was half Polish, and welcomed the ombudsman's initiative. "Korczak's life work is still timely as children continue to be exposed to heinous crimes throughout the world," he said. Ambassador Kowalski presented a high Polish state honour to Ombudsman Máté Szabó in recognition of his merits in strengthening human rights and developing Polish-Hungarian relations.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)