VIRUS Band 17, pp. 203-219, 2020/07/21
Schwerpunkt: Medikalisierte Kindheiten
Die neue Sorge um
das Kind vom ausgehenden 19. bis ins späte 20. Jahrhundert
Pediatrics and pedagogy share some similarities, e.g. a long case history. Both disciplines were developed at the same time and their discourses did not expulse the knowledge of each other. Janusz Korczak (1878/79–1942) was a physician and an educator. He united medical knowledge with social engagement. After he had worked as a pediatrician at the Berson-Bauman-Infirmary for seven years, he became the head of the “Dom Sierot”, an orphanage for Jewish youngsters in Warsaw that he led as an “educational clinic”. In Janusz Korczak’s case and in relation to “medicalized childhoods” it is not only about an actor, but also about an institution with a special concept. Social medicine and pedology respectively can be interpreted as bridge-builders between medicine (pediatrics) and social work (welfare education). His example shows, that medicine and social work were integrated at the beginning of the 20th century.
Keywords: Poland (Warsaw), 20th century, Janusz Korczak (1878/79–1942), pediatrics, pedology, social work, orphanage
