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Uncle Shepsel
Doctor Korczak (based on a real-life historical person) runs an orphans’ home in Warsaw. He is a bald, bearded man with a kind heart and a ready laugh. Misha smuggles food for Doctor Korczak’s orphans, and Doctor Korczak shows him fatherly kindness in turn. Even when the orphans are marched to the ghetto, Doctor Korczak leads them with cheerful songs.
Doctor Korczak Quotes in Milkweed
The Milkweed quotes below are all either spoken by Doctor Korczak or refer to Doctor Korczak. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 17 Quotes
Janina looked at me. “What happened?”
“Unlucky orphans,” I said. I told her that was what Enos called them—orphans who did not live in Doctor Korczak's home, or any other, and who roamed the streets hungry and begging and sick.
“Be glad we're not unlucky orphans,” I told her.
“Is gray Jon an unlucky orphan?” she said.
“Oh no,” I said. “He's a lucky one. He's with us.”
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Chapter 28 Quotes
Some people died from sickness, some from hunger. There wasn't much I could do about the sickness, but hunger, that was where I came in. Feeding my family—and as much as possible Doctor Korczak's orphans—was what the world had made me for. All the parts—the stealing, the speed, the size, the rash stupidity—came together to make me the perfect smuggler.
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Get the entire Milkweed LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Doctor Korczak Character Timeline in Milkweed
The timeline below shows where the character Doctor Korczak appears in Milkweed. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9
...stone house and ring the bell. A bald, bearded man answers. Uri calls him “ Doctor Korczak ” and gives him the bread. With a smile, the man thanks them and shuts...
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Chapter 11
...out of coal. Uri steals a sack of coal one day and takes it to Doctor Korczak ’s orphans, calling it “black pearls.” The next day, Misha goes scrounging for coal too....
(full context)
Doctor Korczak asks Misha his name and where he lives. When he asks Misha whether he’s an...
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Chapter 13
...to watch from a distance. He visits the carousel again and again. Once, he asks Doctor Korczak why the orphans don’t ride the carousel—is it because they’re Jews? Doctor Korczak has been...
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...horse, laughing the whole time. Then, dizzy, he stumbles to the orphans’ home and tells Doctor Korczak to bring the children. Doctor Korczak shakes Misha, calling him “foolish, good-hearted boy.” He puts...
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Chapter 15
...them bites of the sausage he’s carrying, but nobody will talk to him. He finds Doctor Korczak marching and singing with his orphans. When Misha asks if the ghetto is wonderful, Doctor...
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Chapter 24
Misha continues smuggling food for Doctor Korczak ’s orphans. Doctor Korczak urges Misha to “find the cow”: as the desperation for food...
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Chapter 26
Back in the ghetto, Misha heads to Doctor Korczak ’s orphanage as usual—he always dumps half the food through an open window. Janina protests...
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Chapter 28
...the wagon to pick up. Misha does everything he can to keep the Milgroms and Doctor Korczak ’s orphans from going hungry. Because of his speed, small size, and skill at theft,...
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Chapter 37
...they’ve run away, gotten caught and hung for smuggling, or killed by Buffo. One day, Doctor Korczak and his orphans are marched down the street. The orphans are well dressed, Doctor Korczak’s...
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Chapter 41
...and ditch water. He sleeps in the weeds and often hallucinates, seeing Buffo, Uri, Himmler, Doctor Korczak ’s orphans, and Mr. Milgrom. He’s used to Janina being there, copying everything he does,...
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