Janusz Korczak was the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (1878 – 1942), a Polish-Jewish educator, children’s author and pedagogue. He and the 192 children in his Jewish orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto were exterminated by the Nazis in 1942.
He spoke against corporal punishment of children at a time when it was considered parental entitlement. In “The Child’s Right to Respect” (1925), he wrote:
“In what extraordinary circumstances would one dare to push, hit or tug an adult? And yet it is considered so routine and harmless to give a child a tap or stinging smack or to grab him by the arm. The feeling of powerlessness creates respect for power. Not only adults but anyone who is older and stronger can cruelly demonstrate their displeasure, back up their words with force, demand obedience and abuse the child without being punished. We set an example that fosters contempt for the weak. This is bad parenting and sets a bad precedent.”
Jerry's World 