YOUNG people from the Okehampton area were among those who embarked on the trip of a lifetime recently as they performed a moving play about life in the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War in the Polish capital itself. The Plough Youth Theatre from Torrington made a five-day trip to Warsaw at the end of September to perform Korczak at the International Festival of Theatre for Children and Young People. Korczak by Nick Stimson and Chris Williams tells the story of Dr Janusz Korczak, a well known paediatrician, children?s writer and leader of a revolutionary orphanage movement. During the Second World War he cared for 200 children in the Warsaw ghetto and even on their final journey to the death camp of Treblinka. Korczak had a chance of freedom, a chance to live . . . a chance he chose not to take. Rob Pudner, Youth Theatre director said: ?It?s not a story of despair but one of hope told through drama, music and song. ?The play concentrates not on the tragedy but on the positive legacy of Korczak, his children and how through love, respect and the power of imagination he kept their childhoods alive.? Following their sell out production of the play at the Plough Arts Centre in Torrington earlier this year, 36 members of the Plough Youth Theatre and ten support staff boarded the plane at Stanstead bound for the country of Dr Korczak?s origins. On their first day in Poland, the young people visited the Jewish Okopowa Cemetery where there is a memorial statue of Korczak, a memorial to the children who died during the war and the graves of many members of Korczak?s family including his parents. All males visiting the cemetery are asked to cover their heads as a mark of respect. Sarah Pester, assistant director and deputy party leader said: ?Visiting the cemetery was a fitting place to begin the trip, and proved to be a real eye opener to the young people, many of whom were obviously moved by the memorials they saw. They all acted with the utmost respect.? After lunch the young people enjoyed a couple of hours of light relief as they watched a Polish puppet show at the Baj Theatre. The young people also visited Dom Seirot, one of the orphanages established by Korczak, which now also houses the Korczakanium ( Korczak Museum). The next day, following a brief trip around Old Warsaw it was off to the Collegium Nobilium Theatre for an afternoon of rehearsals before performing at 4pm to a full house. The two hour production was greeted with a great response and some wonderful feedback was received at the question and answer session that followed. The two highlights being when a representative of the International Film School in Moscow said they could learn much from the company and the other when the son of Korczak?s personal secretary stood up and gave a heartfelt speech and congratulated the cast on the production before addressing the audience in Polish. Then it was off to the Rampa Theatre for the closing ceremony of the festival. On Sunday, the whole group took a three hour coach journey to Treblinka, the site of the extermination camp where Korczak and the children made their final journey on August 6, 1942. After making their way along the re-created railway lines and platform where the Jewish prisoners arrived by cattle trucks and were unloaded, the group walked around the Symbolic Cemetery where a large memorial stone stands designed to represent a Jewish Tombstone. The stone is surrounded by thousands of other smaller stones which represent the villages and towns where the 800.000 victims came from. Janusz Korczak is the only person to have an individually named stone in the cemetery. It was around this stone that the group paid their tribute to Korczak and the children by singing the final production song and each leaving a small North Devon pebble. Rob said: ?Everyone was very emotional and for me personally it was on two levels. Firstly because the reality of the story hit me much more so than when I previously visited on our research trip in October. Secondly because this marked the end of a journey which we started well over a year ago. ?We had told the story of this great man and now we were actually standing at his resting place in Treblinka paying our tributes and thanking him that he had left such a great story to tell. ?We had certainly done our bit to keep his name alive and educate more people about the life and work of Janusz Korczak.? That evening it was back to Old Warsaw for a taste of real Polish cuisine. After a traditional dinner of Polish dumplings at a Pierogi bar, there was just time for a farewell walk around the Old Town.
