November 7, 1929, Thursday

[Drohobych]. Bruno Schulz makes an entry in the diary of Nusi Bein, a student at the Leon Sternbach Private Coeducational Middle School in Drohobych, commonly known as the Blatt school (from the name of its headmaster, Jakub Blatt).

Schulz taught Nusia Bein1 drawing. In 1929, she was a 11-year-old student of the 1st grade. Little is known about the circumstances the diary entry refers to. Perhaps Nusia received it during one of the portrait sessions. Years later, she recalls: “Bruno saw something special in my face; he made a portrait of me with charcoal – unfortunately, it was lost during the war. My diary is preserved, so I am enclosing a copy of Bruno’s [drawing] from my diary. Bruno had a corner room, two windows to the front and one to the yard. The house had a flower garden the entire length of the house. The entrance was from the yard through the porch to the hall; from the entrance, his room was on the left, from the front – on the right. When I came for posing, I walked through the kitchen and Bruno introduced me to his aunt2. He liked me very much, but I was so young and I still remember today that I was afraid of him: his eyes, sadness and such a muted voice”3.

 

The location of the diary is unknown. Jerzy Ficowski managed to obtain from the owner a photocopy of the page with the drawing and the entry: “As a souvenir, November 7, 1929 Bruno Schulz”. (sr) (transl. mw)

  • 1
    Nusia Bein (1918–2003), wife of Irving Lieber (1907–2001), one of Schulz’s students.
  • 2
    It was Regina (Rywka) Heimberg of Kuhmerker (1838–?), the older sister of Henrietta Schulz.
  • 3
    A quote from a letter from Nusia Bein-Lieber to Edmund Löwenthal (Lewandowski), Forest Hills, NY, December 1980, according to: Jerzy Ficowski, Bruno Schulz (1892–1942) Notatki biograficzne 8, BN, ref. no. III14620.