Drohobych. Henrietta (Hendel) née Kuhmärker – Bruno Schulz’s mother – dies.
As stated in the death record book “Hendel vel Henriette Schulz, née Kuhmärker, widow of Jakub Schulz, daughter of the deceased spouses Berl and Malka Kuhmärker, dies at midnight in her own apartment at ul. Floriańska 10, being less than eighty years old. The cause of death is a heart defect resulting from “senile decay”. The funeral takes place the next day. (ts)
Shortly after, Schulz starts designing his parents’ tombstones. The tombstone, made by local sculptor Ignacy Łobos, was placed in the Drohobych Jewish cemetery the following year. Jerzy Ficowski made the following description on the basis of witness memories:
These were two gravestones differing in detail, made of slabs about 15 centimetres thick, shaped like a stylized outline of a candlestick, on both sides of which, in several storeys, there were its arms formed by deep pointed indentations (cut out in a symmetrical manner at the side edges of the slab) forming straight branches. The upper edges of these branches were horizontal and – as if substituting for stylized candles – carved bunches of grapes were placed on them. The whole vertical structure was set on a horizontal base and had an inscription in Polish (perhaps later supplemented by a Jewish one, but the witnesses are not sure) with the names and dates.
Both tombstones were destroyed along with the entire Jewish cemetery during World War II. According to Jerzy Ficowski, however, two variants have been preserved: the tombstones inspired by Schulz’s design on the grave of Ignacy Łobos and his wife and the grave of Łobos’ parents. Both are located in the Roman Catholic cemetery in Drohobych. (jo) (transl. mw)
