Objects

Józef Kramsztyk (1890–1932) was the son of the lawyer Feliks Kramsztyk and Emilia Regina Muttermilch. He had two siblings: sister Janina and brother Andrzej (link to note about Andrzej Kramsztyk). Janina was a translator of French literature. Andrzej was a well known attorney. Izaak Kramsztyk was Józef’s grandfather.

In 1914, Józef received his PhD in natural philosophy from the department of physics at the Heidelberg University. He also studied in Zurich and Krakow. In 1915, he married a law student, Sara vel Zofia Eldman, whom he divorced in 1919. His second wife was Anna Mutermilch. There is not much information left about that mariage (lasting probably 1927-1928). According to Julian Tuwim, Anna was in the Warsaw Ghetto, where she gave lessons (probably French); starving and sick – we do not know whether she survived the Holocaust.

Despite his interest in Einstein’s work (which he popularised in many articles and lectures), Józef Kramsztyk gained publicity not as a physicist but as a translator. Thanks to his work, Polish readers could become acquainted with the first Polish edition of The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann (1930) or short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann (including The Nutcracker and the Mouse King), also the poetry of R.M. Rilke and A. Akhmatova. He also produced poetry, and worked as a journalist and a literary critic of German literature and its translations.

His name is present in the memories of many personalities in the art and culture of the interwar period. He was friends with the Skamandrites, especially Julian Tuwim. He was a regular at the legendary "Ziemiańska" café, where he was one of those allowed to sit by the famous "literary table" on the mezzanine level.

The cigarette case was made of tortoiseshell – organic material produced from the outside layer of the shells of (mainly) the hawksbill sea turtle. At the front, an oval steel plate with the owner’s monogram ("JK"), encircled by an ornament.

More information about the life of Józef Kramsztyk and his family can be found in the book Józef Kramsztyk. Family, Parlour, Literary and Academic Solitaire by Krzysztofa Prochaski, the son of Joanna, née Kramstyk.

Marta Frączkieiwcz