Page 70 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Artur Szyk, Man of Dialogue.

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STATUTE OF KALISZ 7 70 FIGURE 13

The scene of granting
the Jewish privileges
in the city of Kalisz

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1 13. GRANTING THE RIGHTS TO JEWS BY DUKE BOLESLAUS THE PIOUS
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Once again, the artist depicts the scene of granting the Jewish privileges in the city of Kalisz. These texts
in Latin and French are separated by a decorative frieze in which a figure of a woman throwing herself
into water is visible – a reference to the legend of Wanda, daughter of Krak, who drowned herself in the
Vistula river because she did not want to marry a German. She was described by a medieval chronicler
of Poland, Wincenty Kadłubek. Perhaps Artur Szyk refers to the fact that Boleslaus the Pious granted the
privileges to Jews in order to create counterbalance for the growing power of Germany. In the text – the
portrait of the Duke and the emblem of Poland. Inscription: Artur Szyk, Paris 1927
From the collection of the Józef Piłsudski Library (WiMBP) in Łódź.