before 8 December 1923

Drogobych. Schulz participates in an evening poetry reading of Antoni Słonimski and Julian Tuwim.

The meeting with the two members of the Skamander group of poets was organized in the Sokół hall at Mickiewicza Street*. This is probably what Schulz refers to in his letter to Julian Tuwim* of 26 January 1934 (the only preserved letter to the poet): “Sir, when you once came to Drogobych years ago, I was in the room, looking at you vindictively and rebelliously, full of gloomy adoration”1. However, it seems that Schulz tactfully ignored the circumstances of the evening.

Antoni Słonimski, who also participated in that meeting, describes it in a satirical way in the weekly chronicle in Wiadomości Literackie of 12 May 1929. According to Słonimski, apart from literature lovers, in the Sokół hall there was also a large group of Polish nationalists, who disturbed the performance. “Tuwim goes on stage and almost at the same time he’s already back. Whistles, roars, stones, rotten eggs and apples hit the decorations [...]. «For Polish generals! Away with you! Go to Russia in a sealed carriage!»”2. The cries of the militants referred to Tuwim’s pacifist poem “Do generałów” (“To Generals”), attacked in the National Democracy press (among others by Józef Gałuszka3 and Adolf Nowaczyński4) for alleged sympathies to bolshevism. In an attempt to calm the crowd, the nationalists are said to have solemnly sung a patriotic song “Rota”.

According to Słonimski, the police ended the meeting ahead of time for security reasons and escorted the poets outside the borders of Drogobych. (jo)  (transl. mw)

See also: 26 January 1934.*

  • 1
    Bruno Schulz’s letter to Julian Tuwim, Dzieła zebrane, volume 5: Księga listów, collected and edited by Jerzy Ficowski, supplemented by Stanisław Danecki, Gdańsk 2016, p. 49.
  • 2
    Antoni Słonimski, Kroniki tygodniowe 1927–1931, foreword by Roman Loth, Warszawa 2003, p. 109.
  • 3
    In issue 45 of Myśl Narodowa (of 10 November 1923), Gałuszka published a pastiche called “Odpowiedź J. Tuwimowi” (“Reply to Julian Tuwim”), which begins as follows: “Stay away, you ‘quid pro quo’– you poet,/Messenger of synagogues and kahals / dog baiting–the sneaking ghetto / and growling at Polish generals” (p. 14).
  • 4
    In issue 49 of Myśl Narodowa (of 8 December 1923) there was a report from the Drogobych evening Performances in Drogobych, in which Nowaczyński writes, among other things, that “when Tuwim the troubadour entered the stage, counting on the chemical composition of the public and heavy air in the hall, he risked reciting the revolutionary Bolshevik poem: “Do jenerałów” (“To generals”). But he suffered an embarrassing defeat. What is allowed with impunity in Warsaw or in Cracow, is not allowed in the area of Kresy. The chant started sharply. Away with you! Away with you! Go to Warsaw, you Jews!” (pp. 13–14). And, finally: “Oh, feasting Chameleons! Chameleons! Oh, frogs croaking on the swamps of the Jewish Ghetto! You will see the great Drogobych! You will see!” (p. 15).