The German Korczak Society strongly condemns the war of aggression against Ukraine, which is in violation of international law and ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin with contempt for human life. This war represents an unprecedented attack on our European peace order, based on freedom, human rights, democracy, self-determination, and justice, which we have painstakingly worked for and cultivated through dialogue.
No later than with the start of the war on 24.02.2022on Ukrainian territory, human rights - and especially the rights of children - will once again be trampled underfoot in Europe! What a terrible and unspeakable humanitarian step backwards we all have to experience right now!
80 years ago, Janusz Korczak was murdered in the Treblinka extermination camp together with his staff, co-workers and over 200 children from his orphanage "Dom Sierot". Korczak, who abhorred war, not only thought about ideas of democracy and peace until the very end under life-threatening conditions together with the children entrusted to him, but also lived them.
As the German Korczak Society - like all Korczak societies in the world - we have commemorated his pedagogy of human rights with our commitment for many decades. Therefore, the current situation in Ukraine fills us with deep sadness.
We are in great concern for the health and lives of all people who are innocently dragged into this war and have to suffer the worst. Our thoughts are especially with the families and children affected by the war.
As Korczakians, we are in appreciative, long-standing exchange with our friends of both the Ukrainian and Russian Korczak Societies worldwide. Our unbroken solidarity goes out to them.
"Will we not succeed, or is it not possible for us to succeed, in banishing the war of teeth and claws with the magic of words - to explain and to convince?" Janusz Korczak
The Board of the German Korczak Society e.V.
@DKG e.V.
Künstler Klaus-Uwe Nommensen und Agnieszka Maluga, Vorsitzende DKG e.V. Jahrestagung 2022 an der HS Düsseldorf