A Doctor of the World and a Human without Frontiers

Alina Margolis-Edelman

EMPOWERING CHILDREN

“She battled poverty, injustice, diseases, and death. She never gave up, and she was never disheartened by failures”. Agnieszka Holland

After 1989, Alina Margolis-Edelman started to visit Poland regularly. She established the Office of Social Initiatives in Warsaw and the Polish bureau of Doctors of the World. In 1991, together with a group of social activists, she founded the Nobody’s Children foundation, which addressed the issue of violence against children – at that time, this problem was largely neglected in Poland. The foundation has since changed its name to Empowering Children and provides medical care, psychological assistance, and legal counsel to children suffering from abuse and maltreatment, and to their caregivers. Alina Margolis’ associates recall that she always planned ahead and thought big, her approach being strategic, rather than emotional. She preferred long-term solutions over spontaneous bursts of enthusiasm. She always managed to find people who bought into her ideas, and these have grabbed traction in Poland: the foundation is still run by some of the people who co-founded it with Alina, including Monika Sajkowska, chairwoman of the board, and Maria Keller-Hamela, vice-chairwoman of the board. Between 1991 and 1994, Alina traveled to Russia, with a view to establishing a similar foundation in Sankt-Petersburg, which would be helping street children. Unfortunately, the idea did not catch on. In the mid-1990s, Alina wrote an autobiography, entitled Ala from the Reading Primer, which has since had multiple editions and translations. Around that time, she started to hold regular meetings with youngsters to share with them her wartime experiences, and she spent more and more time in Poland. In 1999, she received the Order of the Smile, an international distinction awarded for efforts toward raising children’s smiles. She was full of ideas to keep changing the world.

Alina Margolis-Edelman died in Paris on 23 March 2008. Three years later, her memorial prize was founded, which is annually awarded to people who help children. None of those close to Alina have any doubts as to where she would be today: she would be helping the defenders of Ukraine, and she would be most definitely working at the Polish-Belarusian border, saving refugees.

Photo caption: Alina Margolis loved hiking in the mountains… and she loved children

Photo caption: With her closest associates from the Nobody’s Children Foundation: Monika Sajkowska and Maria Keller

Photo caption: Alina drinking lemon juice at the Order of the Smile award ceremony

Photo caption: Alina and Marek Edelman with their grandson Tomek, France

Photo caption: Alina with her daughter Anna and granddaughter Liza, Paris, 1990s

Photo caption: The Edelmans at the airport

Photo caption: Anna Edelman, Zofia Lipecka, and Aleksander Edelman during an anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 2005

Photo caption: For some time, the Edelman family would meet every year on 19 April during official commemorations of the Warsaw ghetto events

Photo caption: Alina giving students of the Gliwice "School Full of Character" a tour of the area of the former Warsaw ghetto during an annual commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 2006

Photo caption: Alina Margolis-Edelman and Marek Edelman’s daughter Anna with her son Tomasz, daughter Liza, and grandchildren: Nina, Mateusz, and Mareczek, Paris 2018

“I never did anything alone. I was always surrounded by people devoted to the cause, who were additionally very modest”.

“When Łódź suffered from a diarrhea epidemic and newborn children were dropping like flies, IV treatment was introduced, and I was with them around the clock. This was my mission: to save children’s lives whatever the cost. Marek, too, only fully focuses on those patients who are already knocking on heaven’s door. Whether we got this kind of sensitivity from the ghetto, I don’t know”.

“Here, in France, they call me Polonaise, but do I feel Polish? I don’t know. What I do know for sure is that I’m not French. I have many Polish friends and I speak to my children in Polish only. When I’m in Poland, I feel like I had never left. Warsaw is more of my home than Paris is. Julian Tuwim once wrote this letter, We, the Polish Jews, in which he explains why he is Jewish and Polish at the same time. His explanation is poetic and beautiful. There is no contradiction here, the two are not at odds. If it wasn’t for my grandchildren, I would perhaps go back. Now, I am nowhere – not here, not there”.

“Ala always gave all she had to everyone else, but the world rarely responded in kind. That’s how she was, she never expected anything in return. It’s brilliant that her students and friends came up with the idea of founding her memorial award, and it is as brilliant that there are people worthy of the honor.”

Joanna Muszkowska-Penson

“We can only wish we could be like Ala. To leave such a mark in people’s hearts and minds, to have such an effect on the lives of so many – that means changing the world for the better”.

Agnieszka Holland

Read carefully what Alina Margolis-Edelman said about herself. Who was she? Who did she feel she was? In your opinion, why did neither Poland nor France ever feel fully like home to her? What is your reaction to how people who knew Alina speak about her life and work? Look for information about the Empowering Children Foundation and the people who have so far received the Alina Margolis-Edelman memorial award.