“[...] I know that no one, not even the most loving person in the world, can do anything to make a person not sad when they are sad. Maybe they would be less sad, but still.” Magdalena Kicińska, “Pani Stefa” (“Mrs. Stefa”)

Stefania
Wilczyńska

Stefania Wilczyńska

Stage 7 - Preparation

“[...] I know that no one, not even the most loving person in the world, can do anything to make a person not sad when they are sad. Maybe they would be less sad, but still.” Magdalena Kicińska, “Pani Stefa” (“Mrs. Stefa”)

Stefania Wilczyńska (Stefa), born 26.05.1886 (May 26th, 1886) in Warsaw

Stefania Wilczyńska was born into a wealthy Jewish family. She was well-educated, she had studied natural sciences in Belgium and in Switzerland. At the age of 23, she decided to return to Warsaw, where she took up a job in a shelter for Jewish children run by the “Help for Orphans” society. In 1912, she became the manager of a newly opened orphanage for Jewish children at 92 Krochmalna Street. For the next 30 years, she ran the house together with the famous pedagogue Janusz Korczak. She took care of the children and implemented innovative pedagogical methods. In the 1930’s, she visited Palestine several times, where she worked with children in the Ein Harod kibbutz. In 1938, she also received permission to make aliyah, allowing her to settle in Palestine. Troubled by the alarming information coming from Warsaw and the danger of approaching war, she left for Poland on May 2nd, 1939.

She struggled against the war machine and the Holocaust by taking care of children and working at the temporary hospital located in the basement of the orphanage during bombings.
On the 5th of August 1942, the German Nazis deported the children and the staff of the orphanage to the death camp in Treblinka. Stefania Wilczyńska accompanied the children to the very end and was murdered together with them. She is commemorated by an inscription on the grave of her parents at the Jewish cemetery on Okopowa Street in Warsaw. She was posthumously awarded the Silver Cross of Merit. In 2018, an apple tree bearing her name was planted in the Pola Mokotowskie park in Warsaw.

A letter written by S. Wilczyńska and sent from Palestine to a former resident of the orphanage, Jakub Kutalczuk, 1.6.1938; source: Collection of the Museum of Warsaw
A letter written by S. Wilczyńska and sent from Palestine to a former resident of the orphanage, Jakub Kutalczuk, 1.6.1938;
source: Collection of the Museum of Warsaw
Monument on the site of the former death camp in Treblinka; author: Tomasz Cebulski
Monument on the site of the former death camp in Treblinka;
author: Tomasz Cebulski
Memorial to the victims murdered in Treblinka extermination camp; author: Tomasz Cebulski
Memorial to the victims murdered in Treblinka extermination camp;
author: Tomasz Cebulski
Umschlagplatz monument; author: Tomasz Cebulski
Umschlagplatz monument;
author: Tomasz Cebulski
Stefania Wilczyńska, 1930s; source: Collection of the Museum of Warsaw
Stefania Wilczyńska, 1930s;
source: Collection of the Museum of Warsaw
The site of the former death camp at Treblinka; author: Tomasz Cebulski
The site of the former death camp at Treblinka;
author: Tomasz Cebulski
Contemporary view of a part of the former Umschlagplatz, with the Umschlagplatz Monument on the left; author: Tomasz Cebulski
Contemporary view of a part of the former Umschlagplatz, with the Umschlagplatz Monument on the left;
author: Tomasz Cebulski
Former death camp in Treblinka; author: Tomasz Cebulski
Former death camp in Treblinka;
author: Tomasz Cebulski
Today Stawki Street runs through the Umschlagplatz area; author: Tomasz Cebulski
Today Stawki Street runs through the Umschlagplatz area;
author: Tomasz Cebulski
Group photograph from the Orphans' Home (Warsaw, 92 Krochmalna Street), 1923, centre from the right: Stefania Wilczyńska, Janusz Korczak, Dr Izaak Eliasberg; source: Collection of the Museum of Warsaw
Group photograph from the Orphans' Home (Warsaw, 92 Krochmalna Street), 1923, centre from the right: Stefania Wilczyńska, Janusz Korczak, Dr Izaak Eliasberg;
source: Collection of the Museum of Warsaw

Preparation

During the preparation stage of genocide, specific language is often used; the planned crimes are not spoken of directly and literally (e.g., “the final solution to the Jewish question”). Armies are created, weapons are purchased, special troops are trained. At the same time, society is subjected to intensive indoctrination to instil fear of the victim group, and genocide is sometimes presented as necessary self-defense. If an armed conflict is ongoing, genocide is sometimes camouflaged as anti-guerrilla warfare.
To prevent genocide, a state of emergency should be declared at this stage apply diplomatic pressure and also intervene to prevent the crime.


How is this person’s story related to the stage of genocide in G. Stanton’s theory?

Stefania Wilczyńska was an eyewitness to the preparations for and execution of the plan to destroy the Jewish nation. Upon hearing that the war might break out, she decided to return to Poland. As the German Nazis were preparing for the deportation from the Warsaw Ghetto and, as a result, its liquidation and mass murder of Jews, Stefania Wilczyńska devoted herself to working with children to give them a substitute of normality and childhood. The fact that Wilczyńska voluntarily accompanied the children to the very end and was murdered together with them was her silent objection and response to the Nazi plan of extermination.

Kibbutz – a cooperative farm in Israel in which land is owned in common. The kibbutzim played a significant role in the creation of the state of Israel, and their main idea until this day is to combine Zionism with socialism. Kibbutz residents (kibbutzniks) do not own property and have equal rights and responsibilities. Important decisions are made collectively during meetings.