This monument stands in front of a former Jewish orphanage that was managed by Janusz Korczak, a prominent doctor, writer, and educator in pre-war Poland. During the war, Korczak's influential friends offered to smuggle him out of Poland to safety. However, Korczak would not leave, saying, "You do not leave a sick child in the night, and you do not leave children at a time like this." On August 5 1942, Korczak led the orphanage staff and about 200 children to Umschlagplatz, the deportation point for Treblinka. Korczak died in the extermination camp with the children whom he refused to abandon.