October 2, 1938, Monday

(A) Drohobych. Schulz takes part in the annual Air and Gas Defence Week organised by Airborne and Antigas Defence League (AADL).

(B) Warsaw. The 40th issue of Tygodnik Ilustrowany features a critical draft by Bruno Schulz, Egga van Haardt.

(A) AADL is a paramilitary organisation established in 1928, the aim of which was “to support the development of Polish aviation in all its fields, comprehensive research on chemical defence measures and preparation of civilians for air and gas defence”1, as well as “state and civic education”2.

As a middle school teacher, Schulz could not but belong to this mass organisation (in 1935/1936 all students of the Drohobych school were members of it), although direct evidence remains unknown. Schulz’s membership may also be confirmed by the Defence League badge attached to the lapel of his coat, visible in the photo taken that day, showing a group of teachers standing against the background of the middle school building. (sr) (transl. mw) 

(B) The circumstances related to the publication of Schulz’s3 text on the work of this controversial artist* suggest that the final shape of the draft is far from the original Schulz’s form4.

See also: July 1, 1937*, January 5, 1938, March 23, 1938, October 1938, October 13, 1938. (mw) (transl. mw) 

  • 1
    http://samolotypolskie.blogspot.com/2012/11/liga-obrony-powietrznej-i-przałgazowej.html (access date: 1 March 2016).
  • 2
    Sławomir Czerwiński, O nowy ideał wychowawczy, Warszawa 1932, p. 87.
  • 3
    Bruno Schulz, “Egga van Haardt”, Tygodnik Ilustrowany 1938, no. 40, October 2, pp. 773–774; reprint [in:] idem, Dzieła zebrane, volume 7: Szkice krytyczne, koncepcja edytorska Włodzimierz Bolecki, komentarze i przypisy Mirosław Wójcik, opracowanie językowe Piotr Sitkiewicz, Gdańsk 2017, pp. 150–153, footnotes pp. 275–279.
  • 4
    On the scope and type of changes introduced in Schulz’s text, see: Marta Bartosik, Bruno Schulz jako krytyk, Kraków 2000, especially pp. 18–28. See: also Aleksander Schorr, “Egga van Haardt”, Polish Information Centre, Jerusalem Press, 1945 (numbered bilingual edition of 200 copies); Małgorzata Kitowska-Łysiak, “Kim byłaś Eggo?”, [in:] eadem, Schulzowskie marginalia, Lublin 2007, pp. 69–90.