Born ca. 1893 in Drogobych, died in 1936. Erudite, an art connoisseur, a bibliophile. He studied law at the Jagellonian University but never finished the degree. He and Schulz were school friends and their friendship continued until Emanuel’s death. Regina Silberner, Schulz’s student, who lived near the Pilpels, remembered that in the 1920s and 1930s Schulz visited his friend nearly every day in his house at 8 Szewczenko Street. Besides their friendly relations, the two men shared wide intellectual and artistic interests. Schulz spent the same amount of time on his conversations with Mundek – as he was called by his family and friends (interchangeably with Edmund) – as he did in Pilpel’s father’s bookshop on the corner of Drogobych Market Square, where he could read or borrow Polish and German books free of charge. According to Jerzy Ficowskifree access to the Pilpel’s book collection constituted almost one of the foundations of Schulz’s literary education.
From 1918 Emanuel Pilpel – together with Stanisław Weingarten, Michał Chajes, Maria Budracka and Bruno Schulz – formed an unofficial group of Jewish intellectuals and artists in Drohobych called “Kalleia”. Jerzy Ficowski writes that in 1925 in Edmund’s house Schulz met Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz for the first time. During the meeting, Witkacy painted a (now lost) “portrait of Schulzin crayons – fantastical composition with a head on a fish tail”.
There are no existing photographs of Pilpel. We may know how he looked from several sketches, in which Schulz realistically depicted his face. Emanuel’s face – together with that of Weingarten, the author himself and other inhabitants of Drohobych– often appears in engravings from Xięga bałwochwalcza.
Schulz’s correspondence with Pilpel, which he carried out over many years has not been found so far. It was, as Silberner remembers, an excellent literary work and long before Schulz’s debut, it announced the incredible development of his talent: “Delighted, Mundek would read these letters to me, lifting his majestic index finger and saying: «remember what I tell you, Bruno will become a famous writer»”.
In 1934 Emanuel Pilpelbecame ill with lung cancer. In the last stage of illness, Schulz cared for the dying friend. (jo)
See also: 1918, 1925, 1936.
