Obj. ID: 53635
Memorials  Homage to Janusz Korczak in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2010

Name of Monument
Homenage a Janusz Korczak
(Homage to Janusz Korczak)

What/Who is commemorated
Janusz Korczak and the children of his orphanage

Description
The memorial is set against a wall in a small interior courtyard of the Holocaust of Museum in Buenos Aires. Because it is in a museum, it is also labeled as a work of art.

The main part is a large relief depicting Janusz Korczak and children form his orphanage at the Umschlagplatz – the place where inmates of the Warsaw Ghetto were loaded onto trains to death at Treblinka. German soldiers flank the composition, two on the left and one on the right. They almost fill the entire height of the relief. The two on the left have no facial features. The one on the right turns his back. In between are the smaller figures – meant to be further away – of Korczak facing the viewer and holding a child. Six other children are gathered around him. Most of the children are to our right toward a waiting train car.

On the lower left below the legs of the children is inscribed the name of the artist and the date (2009) of the work. In the lower right corner is inscribed “Auschwtz – Birkenau,” (n.b. Auschwitz is misspelled) with two names and tattoo/identification numbers.

Beneath the relief 19 memorial plaques in Hebrew or Yiddish are affixed. These appear to predate the relief and were apparently moved here from a previous location.

A printed label for the memorial is affixed to the wall to the right.

Inscriptions
On the relief:

NORMA
D’IPPLOLITO
2009

 AUSCHWTZ – BIRKENAU [SIC]
EUGENIA UNGER
48914
AGNES MERO
80264

Label:

Homenage a Janusz Korczak

Autura: Norma Dippolito
Año: 2009

Modelado en arcilla pasado a cemento y dorado a la hoja (215 x 170 cm)

El doctor Korczak abrazado a los niños de su orfanato deportados
Hacia el campo de exterminio. En el fondo, trenes y soldatos nazis.
El nombre y los números de las sobrevivientes Eugenia Unger y
Agnes Mero completan la composición. 

Donación: Eugenia Unger

Translation: Homage to Janusz Korscak / Artist: Norma Dippolito / Year: 2009 / Modeled in clay and cast in cement and gilded (215 x 170 cm) / Dr. Korczak hugs the deported children of his orphanage heading to the extermination camp. In the background, Nazi trains and soldiers. The names and numbers of survivors Eugenia Unger and Agnes Mero complete the composition.

Commissioned by
Donated by Eugenia Unger