European Janusz Korczak Academy

The Europäische Janusz Korczak Akademie e. V. (EJKA) is a Jewish educational association founded in Munich in May 2009 by a small circle of Jewish educators and event managers. It describes itself as an open Jewish educational institution that is accessible to the broader society. Its stated aim is to strengthen and open the Jewish community by imparting knowledge and to reduce mutual apprehensions in every direction. The academy has built a reputation as an experienced and competent partner for young and old in educational work, with a particular focus on Jewish cultural education and interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Its intercultural and interreligious orientation deliberately opens its offerings to a wide audience, resulting in lively participation beyond Jewish target groups. The academy operates three educational centres, known as Janusz-Korczak-Häuser, in Munich, Berlin and Duisburg. The Munich house is the oldest and largest and has served as the head office since the academy's founding in 2009. The Berlin house opened in 2015 and coordinates activities in Berlin and Brandenburg; the Duisburg house opened in 2016 and coordinates activities in North Rhine-Westphalia, working closely with the Jewish community of Duisburg-Mülheim/Ruhr-Oberhausen. The academy is active throughout Germany and develops projects in cooperation with Jewish communities and educational institutions in Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Poland and the United Kingdom. Outside the European Union, its work focuses on Israel, the CIS states and the United States. Since its founding in 2009 it has been an educational partner of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Germany. The academy's self-understanding is based on the educational ideal of contributing to human self-responsibility and self-determination as well as to a deeper social and political-historical understanding and the reduction of prejudice. It places itself in the classical Jewish educational and teaching tradition, characterised by intensive dialogue between teachers and learners, encouragement of critical questioning and close textual engagement. Its self-understanding also includes strengthening German-Israeli friendship, the right of the State of Israel to exist and the prevention of anti-Israelism as a modern form of antisemitism. The academy's programme relies on both formal and informal education and offers seminars and pilot projects with scholarly and humanitarian aspirations. Programmatically and pedagogically, the academy refers to the Polish-Jewish educator, author and physician Janusz Korczak (1878/79–1942) and his "pedagogy of respect". Following the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam ("healing or completing the world"), it formulates social engagement through education as the goal of its activity. The academy aims to counter all forms of prejudice and intolerance, with the fight against antisemitism naturally occupying a particularly prominent position. Its central fields of activity include the historical perspective of Jewish life in Bavaria up to the present, historical-political education with a focus on Holocaust remembrance, the fight against antisemitism, exclusion and xenophobia, Israel in the context of Bavarian-Israeli relations, media education and media competence, children's rights and Janusz Korczak pedagogy, support for educational and social initiatives to promote the Jewish community, and work with refugee youth and young adults in the areas of intercultural and democratic education. The academy publishes an annual programme booklet for the academic year and hosts four to six art and photo exhibitions per year, usually showing works by Jewish artists, often focusing on migration experiences such as from the Soviet Union or to Israel.

The Europäische Janusz Korczak Akademie e. V. (EJKA) was founded in May 2009 in Munich by a small circle of Jewish educators and event managers as an open Jewish educational institution. The aim was to create a free Jewish educational institute that would operate independently of the administrative obligations of classical community work and in a more interreligious framework than would have been possible within the Jewish community. Janusz Korczak (1878/79–1942) was chosen as the namesake for the educational project; he ran an orphanage in Warsaw until 1942 according to the principles of the "pedagogy of respect" he himself had established, and he stood by its children until their transport to a death camp in the summer of 1942. From 2010 to 2015, the EJKA held the Janusz Korczak Week in Munich around the International Day of Children's Rights on 20 November. The EJKA initially opened locations in Munich and Berlin; a location in Duisburg followed in 2016. In July 2014, the academy celebrated its fifth anniversary in the presence of numerous guests, including the Second Mayor of the state capital, Josef Schmid, at the Munich Amerika-Haus. The Janusz-Korczak-Haus München is the oldest and largest of the three Korczak Houses and has existed as the head office since the academy's founding in 2009. In addition to individual events and educational programmes, it regularly hosts intercultural and interreligious encounters within the Gesher programme, the annual Janusz Korczak Week and various grassroots projects. The Janusz-Korczak-Haus Berlin was opened in 2015 and has since coordinated the academy's activities in Berlin and Brandenburg. In its first independent Berlin project, "Gelebte Vielfalt und Anerkennung" (Lived Diversity and Recognition), Jewish youths from Berlin and Brandenburg explored the history of famous Jewish Berliners and engaged with their biographies. Further programmes in Berlin include exhibitions, lectures, leadership courses and youth education in the form of painting and theatre workshops. The Janusz-Korczak-Haus Duisburg was opened in 2016 and has since coordinated the academy's activities in North Rhine-Westphalia. In close cooperation with the Jewish community of Duisburg-Mülheim/Ruhr-Oberhausen, it offers an educational and cultural programme. The academy publishes an annual programme booklet for the academic year: 2015/2016 and 2017/18 for all locations together, and 2018/2019 for individual locations. In the academy's premises, art and photo exhibitions take place four to six times a year. These usually show works by Jewish artists, often focusing on migration experiences such as from the Soviet Union or to Israel. Occasionally these exhibitions also take place in cooperation with other cultural institutions, such as the exhibition "500 Jahre Ghetto in Venedig – eine Spurensuche" in October 2016 (in cooperation with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura München) or the photo exhibition "The Place To Be", which showed photos of the Janusz Korczak School in the Israeli city of Petach Tikwa, taken by its students with learning disabilities. Rarely, exhibitions organised by the academy also take place elsewhere. The academy is active throughout Germany. In the EU it develops projects in cooperation with Jewish communities and educational institutions in Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Poland and the United Kingdom. Outside the European Union, the focus of its work is in Israel, the CIS states and the USA. International cooperations exist with partner organisations in European countries and in Israel as well as the United States. The academy is a partner of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Germany.

• 2016

  Opened the Janusz-Korczak-Haus Duisburg, which coordinates activities in North Rhine-Westphalia.

• 2016

  Held the exhibition "500 Jahre Ghetto in Venedig – eine Spurensuche" in October 2016 in cooperation with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura München.

• 2015

  Opened the Janusz-Korczak-Haus Berlin, which coordinates activities in Berlin and Brandenburg.

• 2014

  Celebrated its fifth anniversary in July 2014 at the Munich Amerika-Haus in the presence of numerous guests, including Second Mayor Josef Schmid.

• 2010

  Began holding the Janusz Korczak Week in Munich around the International Day of Children's Rights on 20 November (until 2015).

• 2009

  Founded in May 2009 in Munich by a small circle of Jewish educators and event managers as an open Jewish educational institution.

• 2009

  Became an educational partner of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Germany.

An open Jewish educational institution focused on Jewish cultural education, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, and the fight against antisemitism, serving both Jewish and broader audiences in Germany and internationally.

• Seminars and pilot projects with scholarly and humanitarian aspirations

• Historical-political education with a focus on Holocaust remembrance

• Media education and media competence programmes

• Children's rights and Janusz Korczak pedagogy programmes

• Intercultural and democratic education for refugee youth and young adults

• Art and photo exhibitions by Jewish artists

• Annual programme booklet for the academic year

1. 1EJKA – Die Europäische Janusz Korczak Akademie ist ein Partner der Jewish Agency for Israel.ejka.org
2. 2Über uns – EJKAejka.org
3. 3Europäische Janusz Korczak Akademiewikidata.org
4. 4Europäische Janusz Korczak Akademiede.wikipedia.org