Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., April 08, 2008 Nisan 3, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:45 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

In search of Bruno Schulz By Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Holocaust, Israel, Poland  Last weekend 450 Jewish teenagers living in the former Soviet Union traveled to the western Ukraine in search of Bruno Schulz. The 20th-century Polish-Jewish artist and writer lived in Drohobycz, Galicia (now called Drogobych), where he also died at the hand of an SS officer. The students are part of the Jewish Agency's Project Heftziba, which every year takes all the 10th-graders in its schools on a heritage tour of the disappearing communities within the Pale, the area in which Jews were permitted to live during the reign of the Russian czars. They study history and also help renovate neglected synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. This year the program focuses on Drohobycz, home to 15,000 Jews on the eve of World War II. Schulz's writings in Polish were published to critical acclaim in the 1930s. However, most of his fame has been posthumous, following the translation of his work into English. He has been called the "Polish Kafka." Advertisement Drohobycz was occupied by the German army in July 1941. The local Gestapo commander, Felix Landau, was taken by Schulz's talent, and ordered him to paint murals inspired by German fairytales in his son's bedroom. Schulz was shot to death on November 19, 1942 by another SS officer, Karl Gunther, in retaliation for Landau's murder of a Jew who was under Gunther's protection. The student tour, which was funded by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany ("Claims Conference"), was the first of its kind for Jewish high schoolers from the former Soviet Union. Prior to the trip, they studied Schulz's works for several months. During their visit, they reconstructed his final hours as well as some scenes from his stories, such as the one from "Cinnamon Shops," in which the main character flees from the local theater and runs through side streets to escape the shame caused him by his parents. In the past, the fact that Schulz was an assimilated Jew whose works have no direct connection to Judaism, much less Zionism or the Land of Israel, would have put him outside the sphere of the Jewish Agency emissaries who organized the tour. But Uri Ohali, Jewish Agency director of Project Heftziba, sees this as a benefit. "Through Bruno Schulz the students understand the complexity of Jewish life in Poland before the war," Ohali said. "On one hand, the cultural involvement, and on the other hand the social rejection. In a nonmediated manner they go through the stages of his life, from birth to death, and learn a chapter about the provinciality of the Jewish intelligentsia. "It is important to the Jewish Agency, too, for students to see not only cemeteries and synagogues but also secular Jewish culture as aspects of Jewish destiny. The children cry at the story of Schulz's death and also laugh at his stories." Some of the students came from distant corners of the former Soviet empire, such as Khyrgystan, the Ural Mountains and Siberia. For them, the trip represents the closure of a familial circle, since their grandparents, and in some cases their parents as well, lived in the area of the Pale before being exiled by the Soviets at the beginning of World War II. The students were unable to enter one site that was central to Schulz's life: Villa Landau, where he painted the murals for Landau's son. It is slated to become a museum dedicated to Schulz's works and is closed to visitors at present. The murals were plastered over after the war, when some of the house's rooms were used for storage. They were rediscovered only in 2001, and in June of that year they were removed and flown to Jerusalem's Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, in a clandestine operation. The arrangement that enabled the transfer is still controversial, and it caused a diplomatic crisis between Israel, Poland and Ukraine. Yad Vashem officials claimed the removal was approved and that the paintings' proper home is in their museum. Ukraine and Poland claimed that the works were national cultural assets. The frescoes are in Yad Vashem storerooms and have never been exhibited to the general public. No outsiders were permitted to see them until two months ago, when Yad Vashem reached an agreement with the Ukrainian government under which the paintings were declared part of Ukraine's national cultural heritage but will be on indefinite loan to the Jerusalem museum. Yad Vashem announced that the paintings will go on display this summer. Bookmark to del.icio.us   In his father's memory Gilad Sharon's son plans to write his father's memoirs as he lies in a coma. Jammed FM Police close an English radio station which encourages Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.

Today Online Ben-Eliezer: If Iran attacks, we will destroy it Responses: 206 U.S. evangelist pledges $6 million in contributions to Israel Responses: 151 U.S., Israel fear Iran has N. Korean nuclear know-how Responses: 131 Akiva Eldar: Time for Bush to intervene in Mideast peace talks Responses: 74 More Headlines 21:27 Erekat: Peace process credibility 'eaten up' by settlement activities 02:03 Home Front civil defense drills to continue with 10 A.M. siren 02:36 Opposition to national service in Israel's Arab sector is bitter 23:13 Ariel Sharon's son to pen memoir touching on father's life 12:01 Polish PM: I didn't know about my grandfather's Nazi past 00:33 Friedmann lashes back at Supreme Court and Barak 21:46 Police close English radio aimed at Israeli-Palestinian coexistence 19:36 Court rejects Katsav's plea to postpone hearing on sex charges 21:35 Gov't mulls marking Israel's 60th anniversary with tax cut 22:42 Palestinian, 15, dies after hit by bus carrying settlers in W. Bank 21:54 UN official: Gaza medical system in 'pathetic state' Previous Editions Select Day 07 apr 06 apr 04 apr 03 apr 02 apr 01 apr 31 mar 30 mar 28 mar 27 mar 26 mar 25 mar

Special Offers Advertisement Learn Hebrew online with Israel's best teachers Sign up for a trial lesson today Behind the Z Word Scholarly essays, commentary, podcasts, blogs and much more. NEW! Dan Boutique Jerusalem Hotel Hip Dan Hotel in Jerusalem. Attractive Introductory Rates Pardes Institute Summer Sessions Study Jewish texts and issues in Jerusalem, Co-ed, All Levels FAREWELL ISRAEL New Film The Coming War for Islamic Revival - View Movie Trailer Free the Palestinians from: Corrupt Kleptocracy, Tyrannical Theocracy, Abysmal Anarchy Fattal Hotel Chain Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel. ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved