Objects

From 1912, Szymon Zajczyk studied at the Eight Classes Men's Gymnasium of the "Chinuch" Society (for more, see Gimnazjum i Liceum Chinuch w Warszawie | Wirtualny Sztetl Chinuch Gymnasium and High School in Warsaw | [Virtual Shtetl], accessed 27.10.2021). The junior high school had operated in Warsaw since 1911, and the decision to send Szymon there proves that his parents wanted him to be brought up in the national Jewish spirit. In 1922, he obtained his high school diploma (Warsaw University Archives).

The beautiful photograph of an elegant young man on the verge of adulthood was taken at the Atelier Mezer, at 26 Długa Street, whose owner was Alter Kacyzne, not only one of the most popular Jewish photographers in Warsaw, but also an outstanding writer of Yiddish (more about Kacyzne: Z. Borzymińska, "Alter Kacyzne", in Polski Słownik Judaistyczny (The Polish Judaic Dictionary), vol. I, pp. 732-733; YIVO | Kacyzne, Alter-Sholem (yivoencyclopedia.org) accessed 27 October 2021).

Renata Piątkowska