20 January 1935, Sunday

(A) Warsaw – Drohobych. After spending winter holidays in Warsaw, Bruno Schulz returns home.

(B) Lviv. Izydor Schulz dies.

(A) Shortly after arriving, he learns about the death of the brother with whom he spoke the day before1.

(B) Izydor Schulz dies of a heart attack2 after coming from Warsaw, where he participated in numerous meetings and conferences concerning the oil industry3. According to the register of deaths, he died around 1.00 p.m. in the apartment at ul. Arcybiskupa Cieplaka 11 in Lviv. Izydor was probably visiting his friends there4.

Jerzy Ficowski explains that it was the apartment of engineer Aleksandrowicz5 (without mentioning his name and address). However, Izydor Schulz could not visit engineer Stanisław Aleksandrowicz6, director of the Water Works of the city of Lviv, because he died on July 22, 19347. It is not known whose apartment engineer Schulz died in, but many clues lead to Marek Aleksandrowicz8, director of the joint-stock company Gazy Ziemne. Marek Aleksandrowicz provided various addresses of residence. In 1932 it was an apartment at ul. Świętej Zofii 289, and in 1936 it was an apartment at ul. Akademicka 710. The latter was the headquarters of Gazy Ziemne SA for the Oil Industry in Lviv. According to the address book of the members of “B’nei B’rith” from 1937, Aleksandrowicz lived at ul. Bocznej-Potockiego 11A11, on November 22, 1934, renamed ul. Arcybiskupa Cieplaka12. So it was probably the same apartment where engineer Schulz died. Marek Aleksandrowicz himself could have lived in it even before the re-name – he had been a member of the association from 1931 and probably then gave his address, still with the old street name. 

Probably the building at ul. Cieplaka 11 was a luxurious villa, which could accommodate several families13. These assumptions are confirmed by announcements – in 1935 someone wanted to rent a three-room flat with a kitchen and a room for servants14, and in 1937, on the second floor of the same building, two rooms with private bathrooms15. This explains why more people could at the same time rent premises in the building at ul. Arcybiskupa Cieplaka 1116.

See also: September 4, 1881*, November 28, 1934, late December 1934 – January 19, 1935, January 22, 1935, January 23, 1935, January 28, 1935. (ts) (transl. mw)

  • 1
    Bruno Schulz, Księga listów, collected and prepared for printing by Jerzy Ficowski, supplemented by Stanisław Danecki, Gdańsk 2016, p. 83.
  • 2
    Central Archives of Historical Records, Record books of Jewish communities from the area “behind the Bug River”, 1789–1943, reference number 1/300/0/-/3549, sheet 17; Nagły zgon dyr. Schulza, “Chwila” 1935, no. 5687, pp. 5.
  • 3
    “Przemysł Naftowy” 1935, issue. 2, pp. 64.
  • 4
    Nagły zgon dyr. Schulza...
  • 5
    Jerzy Ficowski, Izydor, Bruno’s brother, [in:] idem, Regiony wielkiej herezji i okolice. Bruno Schulz i jego mitologia, pp. 132.
  • 6
    They had known each other at least since 1929 when they were elected to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lviv, see Skład nowej Izby Przemysłowo-Handlowej we Lwowie, “Wiadomości Gospodarcze Izby Przemysłowo-Handlowej we Lwowie” 1929, no. 8, p. 105–106.
  • 7
    W. Rabczewski, Ś.p. Inżynier Stanisław Alexandrowicz. Dyrektor Zakładów Wodociągowych m. Lwowa. Wspomnienie pośmiertne, “Gaz i Woda” 1934, no. 8, pp. 271–274. In a letter from Mieczysław Lustig to Bruno Schulz (from June 17, 1938), contrary to the footnote, it must also refer to another Aleksandrowicz, see Bruno Schulz, Księga listów, collected and prepared for printing by Jerzy Ficowski, supplemented by Stanisław Danecki, Gdańsk 2016, p. 323 and 434.
  • 8
    They certainly knew each other. They both took part in a survey, in fact, an oil conference, organized on the initiative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lviv on March 25, 1933, see Oil survey, Lviv 1933.
  • 9
    Address book of members of the Jewish union of Humanitarian Associations “B’nei B’rith” in the Republic of Poland in Cracow, Cracow 1932, pp. 55.
  • 10
    “Monitor Polski”, July 16, 1936, no. 163, p. 7.
  • 11
    Address book of members of the Jewish union of Humanitarian Associations “B’nei B’rith” in the Republic of Poland in Cracow, Cracow 1937, pp. 69.
  • 12
    “Dziennik rozporządzeń Gminy król. stoł. miasta Lwowa”, December 1, 1934, no. 24, p. 192, and Ilustrowany przewodnik po Lwowie z wykazem ulic i planem orientacyjnym miasta, Lviv 1934, pp. 199.
  • 13
    According to Wira Tsypuk, the residential building in which Izydor Schulz died is now located at11 Żukowśkoho Street, see https://lia.lvivcenter.org/uk/objects/zhukovskoho-11/.
  • 14
    “Przegląd Realności i Mieszkań” 1935, no. 5, p. 4.
  • 15
    “Przegląd Realności i Mieszkań” 1937, no. 54, p. 3.
  • 16
    The publication of the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv shows that in the academic year 1935/1936 one of the flats was occupied by Adam Szelągowski, professor of the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv (University composition in the academic year 1935/1936, Lviv 1935, p. 65). In 1937, the Solak family – leaders of mountain trips, lived in the building (Wyszkolenie. Odznaka za sprawność. Mountain badge. Narciarstwo na niżu, Cracow 1937, pp. 110). In turn, according Ilustrowany Informator Miasta Lwowa z roku 1939 Dr Marek Aleksandrowicz, an internist, lived at the address of ul. Arcybiskupa Cieplaka 11. I have not been able to determine whether the internist and the director of Gazy Ziemne are the same person (Ilustrowany informator miasta Lwowa ze spisem miejscowości wojew. Lwowskiego na rok 1939, Lviv 1939, p. 32).