12 July 1892, Tuesday

Drohobych. Bruno Schulz is born.

The only known evidence of the birth of the fifth child in the family of Jakub Schulz* and Henrietta (Hendel) née Kuhmerker* is an official entry in the birth book of the Jewish register district in Drohobycz*1.

From the note no. 265 on sheet 86, we may learn that a boy was born on July 12, 1892, who was given the name Bruno during the circumcision ceremony on 19 July 1892. The parents were “Jakub Schulz, a merchant living here” and “Hendel Kuhmerker, a wife who lives here only according to the Law of Moses, a merchant who lives here, daughter of the deceased local spouses – Berisch and Małka Kuhmerker, former owners of real estate”2. Gittel Wegner assisted in childbirth3. 

In the light of the law in force in Galicia, Bruno Schulz is born as an illegitimate child4. Jacob officially recognizes his paternity before the birth record clerk5, which he did in the past after the birth of Isidore*. In the entry in the birth records of Bruno and Izydor, we may find a note that Jakub and Hendel Schulz entered into a legal marriage on 8 October 1892*.

Bruno Schulz is born as the last child of Henrietta and Jakub Schulz. The eldest of the siblings, Hanna*6, was born on 27 November 1873, and brother Izydor7 was born on 4 September 18818. Bruno, however, had more siblings. Isaak Kuhmerker was born on 23 June 1876, and died on 29 October 1879 at the age of three years and four months9. In the register of deaths, under the heading “disease and type of death”, difficilis was entered, which in Latin may mean difficult, unpleasant, complicated and rare10. Hinda Kuhmerker11 was born on 2 October 1887. Bruno’s sister died of encephalitis on 22 May 1890, at the age of less than three, 12 two years before his birth. Isaak and Hinda bore their mother’s surname because Jakub Schulz did not officially recognize his paternity before the record clerk.

See also: 19 November 1942*. (mr, ts) (transl. ms)

  • 1
    Jewish record districts are institutions established in 1875 whose task was to register the natural movement of the Jewish population (i.e. births, deaths and marriages). In 1784, Emperor Joseph II Habsburg ordered the Jewish population to keep record books. This was to be done by rabbis under the control of state and church (Catholic) authorities. In 1868, Jewish record books were given the value of a court evidence, and the obligation of inspection by church authorities was abolished. In order to improve the keeping of the register, Jewish registry districts were established in 1875. In Galicia, their number changed slightly, but it was always around 260. The record-holders did not have to be rabbis, they had the status of state officials, although they worked without pay. In Galicia, record books could be kept in three languages: German, Polish or Ukrainian, it was not possible to keep books in Yiddish and Hebrew. See Jerzy Michalewicz, Żydowskie okręgi metrykalne i żydowskie gminy wyznaniowe w Galicji, Kraków 1995, pp. 40–44; Małgorzata Śliż, Galicyjscy Żydzi na drodze do równouprawnienia 1848–1914. Aspekt prawny procesu emancypacji, Kraków 2006, pp. 109–123.
  • 2
    Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych (AGAD), Księgi metrykalne gmin wyznania mojżeszowego z terenów tzw. „zabużańskich”, 1789–1943, sygn. 1/300/0/-/154, k. 86 [Central Archives of Historical Records (AGAD), record books of Jewish communities from the so-called “Bug River” land, 1789–1943, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/154, sheet 86].
  • 3
    Ibidem. Jerzy Ficowski misread the midwife’s name as Gittel Wagner. He did not associate her surname with the well-known Wegner family in Drohobycz (although he writes about the youthful love of Schulz – Fryderyce Wegner) – Jerzy Ficowski, Regiony wielkiej herezji i okolice. Bruno Schulz i jego mitologia [Regions of Great Heresy and Surroundings. Bruno Schulz and his mythology], Sejny 2002, p. 127. Anna Kaszuba-Dębska (Kobiety i Schulz [Women and Schulz,] Gdańsk 2015, p. 313) also misread the midwife’s name as Gitel Wagner. She identified the midwife Gitel Wagner with the grandmother of Leopold Lustig, the narrator of Henryk Grynberg’s story Drohobycz, Drohobycz… (ibid., p. 323). At the beginning of this story we read: “The tenement house was built by my great-grandmother Gitł, a midwife and a healer who earned very well. When she died, Jews and non-Jews put hundreds of candles on her grave” (Henryk Grynberg, Drohobycz, Drohobycz, Warszawa 1997, p. 7).
  • 4
    As Jerzy Michalewicz writes: “A child was considered legitimate if it was proved by the parents’ marriage certificate or an equivalent document. Children born in a marriage according to the Law Moses, that is, in a ritual marriage, confirmed by testimonies of witnesses, were considered to be married. Such marriages, common among Jews, were concluded without the binding provisions laid down in the Act of 25 May 1868. They were not registered in record books and were not legally recognized, although they were respected by the Israeli community. This situation meant that the lack of confirmation by witnesses of the fact of the ritual marriage, which was not uncommon given the considerable mobility of the Jewish population, resulted in the child being considered illegitimate” (Jerzy Michalewicz, op. cit., p. 37).
  • 5
    In the “note” column it reads: “Known to the person conducting the records, Mr Jakub Schulz admitted in agreement with the mother to the paternity of this child and allowed, in the presence of the undersigned, record clerk, also a well-known witness to fill in the column six of this record” (AGAD, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/154, sheet 86).
  • 6
    “Anna recte Chane”, as stated in the wedding book on the occasion of her marriage (AGAD, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/2112, sheet 24; see also 17 November 1900*) and in the record entries of her sons: Ludwik and Zygmunt (AGAD, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/2250, sheet 49; ref. no. 1/300/0/-/2830, sheet 73). Thus, Schulz’s sister used both variants of the name, and with time the form Hanna was adopted as the most common and contaminated version. See Zofia Abramowicz, Antroponimia Żydów białostockich, Białystok 2010, p. 39, and also 91: “Chana, gr. Anna, bibl. (1 Sam1, 2), Hebrew channa 'grace'; Samuel’s mother; wife of Tobit and mother of Tobias (Tobit 1: 9)”.
  • 7
    The newborn child is given the names of Baruch Israel (AGAD, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/142, sheet 140).
  • 8
    AGAD, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/142, sheet 140.
  • 9
    AGAD, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/176, sheet 71.
  • 10
    Zob. Janusz Sondel, Słownik łacińsko-polski dla prawników i historyków, Kraków 2001.
  • 11
    AGAD, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/149, sheet 138.
  • 12
    AGAD, ref. no. 1/300/0/-/187, sheet 30.
Entry in the record book of the Drohobych commune regarding the birth of Bruno Schulz
Entry in the record book of the Drohobych commune regarding the birth of Bruno Schulz