Ewa Kramsztykówna (1879–1909) was born in Sokołówka in Ukraine, where her father - Jakub Kramsztyk, MA in physics and mathematics, administered a sugar factory. Ewa's mother was Idalia aka Ida Apte, daughter of Dr. Markus Apte. After the death of her parents and two of her four siblings (Wiktor and Aniela), Ewa and her sister Zofia, who was one year younger, were looked after by her father's brother, a well-known ophthalmologist, journalist and literature enthusiast - Zygmunt Kramsztyk. Ewa's grandparents were Izaak Kramsztyk, a well-known Warsaw Jewish preacher and Polish patriot, a supporter of the social, cultural and linguistic assimilation of Polish Jews, and Sura Rywka aka Frühling (also using the name of Salomea).
In the years 1879–1907, Ewa studied mathematics and physics at the Jagiellonian University. She was active in the Students' Mathematics Circle of the Jagiellonian University. She has also published scientific articles, inter alia, in the magazines "Wszechświat" and "Kosmos". In Krakow, she lived in the guesthouse of Wanda Czajkowska, her neighbor was, among others, Roman Dmowski, who witnessed her wedding with another guest of the guesthouse, Franciszek Bujak (later one of the most important Polish economic historians of the 20th century).
Ewa and Franciszek were married on April 23, 1903 in the Franciscan Church in Krakow. The wedding of an assimilated Jewish family with an academician of peasant origin was then an event in Krakow so sensational that it was noted in the press chronicle. Ewa died young, just at the age of 30, orphaning three children: Zofia Ewa, Jakub and Stanisław. It can be considered that she became a victim of the state of medical knowledge at the time. In August 1907, she sprained her ankle while walking in the Tatra Mountains. Attempts were made to heal this trivial trauma using the most modern methods, including X-ray irradiation, which only worsened her condition. Weakened by a long and ineffective treatment, Ewa died another stroke in Grado, Italy, unfortunately chosen for convalescence due to the summer heat there. The common story of Ewa Kramsztyk and Franciszek Bujak can be traced through the letters that the fiancés, and then the spouses, wrote to each other in the years 1902–1909. Bujak's correspondence was published in the form of a book, with a commentary by Bogna Szafraniec (Letters by Franciszek Bujak and Ewa Kramsztyk 1902–1909, Toruń 2012).
The sugar bowl manufactured by the well-known Warsaw factory Schiffers & Co (founded in 1888 by Andrzej Bolesław Schiffers) was part of the wedding expedition that Ewa Kramsztykówna received from her grandmother Sura Rywka aka Ewa Kramsztyk née Frühling. The sugar bowl bears the bride's monogram ("EK"). The collection of Ewa Kramsztyk souvenirs at the POLIN Museum also includes sugar tongs, which are a set with a sugar bowl, and a white tablecloth with the "EK" monogram embroidered on it. These are the only items that have survived from Ewa Kramsztyk's wedding expedition. They were donated to the museum by the granddaughter of Ewa and Franciszek, Magdalena Bujak-Lenczowska. The sugar bowl consists of a brass, covered with a platter, a square basket richly decorated with a floral motif, supported on four legs, and a glass insert (also quadrilateral). Its edge is also irregular. In the center of each side of the basket, on an oval disc in its central part, there is a monogram of the bride. On the metal basket you can find the label of the company: "Schiffers & CO / GALW / Warsaw".
Marta Frączkiewicz
