15 – Love with Maks Brandt

(1933-1936)

 

Maks Brandt was a good boy. He was faithful, delicate, loving and quiet, maybe even too quiet. This tall and slim boy never smiles in the pictures. It was probably Fira’s longest –lasting relationship, among other ones which she had with her numerous admirers. The Maks’s mother, who was a single servant, worrying about her monthly payments, did him a disservice. She asked Fira for some money. The girl gave that money, but she started to withdraw from this relationship, being afraid that she was chosen because of her dowry.

There were also other reasons for weakening their relationship. Fira started to spend time with her peers beginning adult life, still studying or already working. They gathered at the Hirschlik’s in Pocztowa Street*, a Jewish restaurant and café existed since Prussian times. They entertained, talked and flirted there. Fira met new interesting people, and Maks was a little envious, but he said nothing. Among those persons, there was also Rutka Abkiewicz, a student of pedagogy at the university. The photos of Maks are complemented in this part by selected student documents regarding Rutka, which are stored at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.

 

* Today 23 Lutego Street