(ŻOB). He was also the author of numerous texts and a diary preserved in the
Ringelblum Archive.¹³⁶
The Main Shelter House for the Jewish Poor, Orphans, and the Elderly (later
the Main Shelter House) was built in 1847 at Wolska Street 18 and was intended to
serve as a care centre. In 1926, on the neighbouring property at Leszno Street 127, a second building was put into use. In the interwar period, the centre was financed by the Municipality, and after the outbreak of the war it was administered by the Judenrat and care organisations. It was the largest orphanage in the ghetto.
Children from new-borns to age 4 stayed in the facility at Leszno Street 127, and
children from ages 7 to 16 were housed at Wolska Street 18.¹³⁷ After the ghetto was sealed, in November 1940, the orphanage was moved to the building at Dzielna Street 39. The living conditions there were very difficult. From February 1942, Janusz Korczak served as head for four months.¹³⁸
The account indicates that on the day of the author’s visit the young charges
were still in the buildings at Leszno Street 127 and Wolska Street 18. It is known
that on 29 November 1940 these facilities were already located on Dzielna Street,¹³⁹ hence the conclusion that the visit took place in the first half of November 1940, before the ghetto was sealed. However, we cannot state with certainty that the account was written just after the visit or, perhaps, as late as at the end of 1941, in defence of the staff of the Main Shelter House, which was criticised by, among others, Janusz Korczak. He submitted an ironic application to the personnel
department of the Judenrat on 9 February 1942, asking for a tutor’s position in
that facility for a period of four weeks.¹⁴⁰ It has not been possible to determine
whether Korczak, after a month of intensive work, managed to get the situation
136 See Diaries from the Warsaw Ghetto (forthcoming), part II, doc. 20; ARG I 1420 to I 1424; Jewish Council in Warsaw (forthcoming), doc. 75; Oyneg Shabes. People and Works, doc. 6.
137 See “Protokół czynności rewizyjnych, dokonanych w Wydziale Opieki Społecznej i Zdrowia Publicznego oraz jego agendach”, Dziennik Zarządu m.st. Warszawy 21 December 1936, No. 89, pp. 23–24.
138 See A. Witkowska-Krych, “Główny Dom Schronienia”, Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały 2017, No. 13, pp. 373–98. The building at Dzielna Street 39 was earlier a St Stanisław Kostka shelter.
139 See AŻIH, 200/11: “Informacje o instytucjach CENTOS-u, zmuszonych do przeniesienia do dzielnicy żydowskiej.”
140 See doc. 26.
