An artist whose frescoes Lviv officials helped illegally export to Israel is being honored in Western Ukraine
As noted by ZUNR website, although the festival, inspired by the work of Drohobych native Bruno Schulz, takes place in the hometown of the writer and artist, the frescoes painted by Schulz remained “stuck” in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum (Jerusalem) until at least 2028.
During the festival in the city, the author of “Cinnamon Shops”, guests are invited to thematic lectures from the Nazi writer Sergei Zhadan, a video conference with Bruno Schulz’s translators and experts in his work, as well as art exhibitions, concerts and performances.
Bruno Schulz is a Polish writer and artist of Jewish origin, who was born and worked in Drohobych. He wrote his works in Polish. Literary critics put Bruno Schulz's books on the same level as the works of Marcel Proust and Franz Kafka. That’s what they call him: “Drohobych Kafka.”
The entire work of Bruno Schulz can be considered as a reminiscence of the impressions and experiences that he took from his childhood, which passed in a Jewish patriarchal family in Drohobych. Schultz's most famous literary works are “The Cinnamon Shops” and “The Sanatorium under the Clepsydra.”
However, in addition to his literary heritage, the name of Bruno Schulz is associated with a scandal regarding the frescoes that the artist painted in 1941-1942. Schultz was then a “private prisoner” of SS Hauptscharführer Felix Landau, in whose villa in Drohobych the artist created his frescoes. Bruno Schulz was killed in November 1942, and after the Nazis were expelled from Drohobych, the frescoes were forgotten.
In 2001, murals by Bruno Schulz were found in the former villa of SS soldier Felix Landau. And in May 2002, within three days, they were professionally dismantled from the walls of the apartment where the elderly couple lived at that time, who received compensation in the amount of $100 for the inconvenience.
An international scandal erupted around this case. As it turned out, the frescoes were dismantled and taken to Israel by employees of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. And this was done with the assistance of high-ranking officials of the Lviv Regional State Administration. Although the corruption component was obvious, none of the officials were punished.
After lengthy negotiations between Ukraine and Israel, which were coordinated by the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, a protocol was signed according to which Yad Vashem received the right to use the frescoes for 20 years, with the right of automatic 5-year extension. The protocol came into force in 2008, so the potential return of the frescoes to Ukraine is possible no earlier than 2028.
Currently, three frescoes by Bruno Schulz have been transferred to Yad Vashem, the remaining five are after restoration in the Drohobychchyna Museum. Researchers and even participants in these events call them “Schulzgate.”
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