Roman Brandstaetter
Born
January 3, 1906
Tarnów, Poland
Died
September 28, 1987 (aged 81)
Pozna?, Poland
Nationality
Polish
Occupation
Writer, poet, playwright, journalist and translator.

 a photo of my grandmother Paula and her sister Irena Branstatter in Krakow 

 taken by Atelier Kamera, Krakow.  Circa 1915.

Monique Percy 
Let me know if you would like me to send it through.Oral history interview with Georges Brandstatter

Oral History | Accession Number: 2019.462.1 | RG Number: RG-50.030.1061
Georges “JoJo” Brandstatter, born on November 24, 1939 in Berchem, Belgium, discusses his family; his father Israël Brandstatter (born in Tarnov, Poland in 1915), who had a small custom upholstery and furniture business in Antwerp; his mother Ileana or Ilona Jakab (born in 1917 in Cluj, Transylvania), who immigrated to Belgium in 1929 and she later became a seamstress; his parents’ marriage in 1938; the Germans occupation of Belgium; Jews having to wear the Jewish star; his family’s decision to flee to France in August 1942; the arrest of his family and internment in the Gurs camp; the Quakers (American Friends Service Committee) who were active there and negotiated with the local authorities to allow all children under three years of age to be released with their mothers; his Aunt Betty who lived in nearby Pau; being taken in by a couple of farmers in the Haute-Garonne village of Andoins; his caretakers Tante Elise and Tonton Raymond, with whom he stayed with until circa August 1944; his happy memories from his time in Andoins; learning to say prayers in Latin and singing in a choir; his father’s activities with the Jewish resistance; his father visiting him at the farm and rushing out of the house with him when Tante Elise alerted him that the Gestapo were on their way; the trial of the mayor of Andoins after the war because of his collaboration with the Germans; his father joining the Milice patriotique; living in Toulouse until the spring of 1945; being sent with other Belgian Jews on a train that stopped at dozens of places on its way to Belgium (the passengers called it “Josephine”); arriving in Antwerp and sleeping on blankets on the floor of a large auditorium; the fate of his extended family; attending the Takhémoni School in Antwerp (1946-1947); attending an Orthodox religious school (1947-1949); immigrating with his family to Israel in 1949; settling in Holon, “Rasko Bet”; returning to Belgium with his parents in 1955; entering an ORT school to learn a manual profession; opting to become a Belgian citizen and signing-up to do his military service for three years; becoming a proficient welder; his father’s death at the age of 44; becoming a diamond cleaver; taking night classes in painting and drawing at the Académie des Beaux-Arts; getting married to Paulette Horn in 1970; his son and five granddaughters; having conversations with men older than him about the war and recording many of these conversations; his own parents never speaking to him about their wartime experiences; publishing two books in French, one about Jewish resistance fighters in France and Belgium and another about Jewish volunteers in the regular armed forces during WWII and the fight for Israeli statehood; and dividing his time between Israel, where his son and family live, and the seaside town of Knokke-Heist, Belgium.
  
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn713071
Brandstaetter, Roman
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(1906–1987), poet, playwright, prose writer, and translator. Roman Brandstaetter studied philosophy and Polish literature in Kraków, earning a doctorate for a thesis on Adam Mickiewicz in 1932. Two years of research in Paris (1929–1931) resulted in the publication of Legion ?ydowski Adama Mickiewicza (Adam Mickiewicz’s Jewish Legion; 1932). Initially, Brandstaetter actively participated in Polish literary life, publishing, among other things, literary guidelines for the generation of Polish poets entering the literary scene during the interwar period. In the early 1930s, however, he became more closely associated with Jewish national circles, joining the editorial board of Opinia, a Zionist weekly where he published his manifesto on Polish Jewish poetry.

In the early days of World War II, Brandstaetter fled Vilna, eventually making his way to Jerusalem. In 1946, he left Palestine for Rome, where he served as cultural attaché at the Polish embassy and was baptized. He returned to Poland in 1948. From the late 1950s he wrote extensively on religious subjects for the Polish Catholic press, including the newspaper Tygodnik powszechny, consolidating his reputation as one of Poland’s leading religious writers.

During the interwar period, Brandstaetter published volumes of poetry, including Jarzma (The Yokes; 1928), Królestwo trzeciej ?wi?tyni (Kingdom of the Third Temple; 1934), Jerozolima ?wiat?a i mroku (Jerusalem of Light and Darkness; 1935), and a collection of essays, Zmowa eunuchów (Pact of the Eunuchs; 1936). After the war, he wrote other volumes of poems, including Pie?? o moim Chrystusie (Song about My Christ; 1960); plays, Powrót syna marnotrawnego (Return of the Prodigal Son; 1948), Noce narodowe (National Nights; 1948), Teatr ?wi?tego Franciszka (The Theater of St. Francis; 1958); novels Jezus z Nazarethu (Jesus of Nazareth; 1967–1973), Prorok Jonasz (Prophet Jonah; 1983); translations of Shakespeare’s plays, and, above all, selections from the Bible: Book of Psalms, Book of Job, and Song of Songs, followed by the Gospels of saints John, Luke, and Mark; and autobiographical prose: Kr?g biblijny (Biblical Circle; 1975), Przypadki mojego ?ycia (My Life; 1988).

Brandstaetter’s biography reflects the dramatic experiences and radical ideological choices facing twentieth-century Jewish intelligentsia. His life was shaped by Zionism and, later, Catholicism, while his literary output synthesized Jewish, Polish, Christian, and Greek and Roman traditions. His program for Polish Jewish literature called on writers to serve the cause of Zionism, while his interwar poetry relied on classical poetics to address universal and national Jewish themes, especially biblical ones. Cross-fertilization between Judaism and Christianity is central to Brandstaetter’s postwar works, including his best-known novel, Jezus z Nazarethu—an epic about Christ written in biblical style, exegetic in approach. The figure of Christ, shown against the background of first-century Palestine, is presented in historical context, while the Gospels are interpreted as continuing the tradition of the Old Testament. The novel’s language is rooted in biblical imagery, symbols, and parables, and uses biblical literary techniques.

Critics have praised Brandstaetter’s lyric poetry for its function of “hermeneutics of the Judeo-Christian tradition,” as Wojciech Gutowski has termed it, while autobiographical works portray the writer as a bicultural artist, scion of a family rooted in Haskalah. His grandfather, the writer Mordekhai Brandstetter (1844–1928), often appears in Roman Brandstaetter’s work offering insights into values underlying Jewish life.
Suggested Reading
Jan Kanty Pytel, ed., ?wiat Biblii Romana Brandstaettera (Szczecin, Pol., 1999); Alicja Mazan-Mazurkiewicz, Inspiracje biblijne w utworach Romana Brandstaettera (?ód?, 2003); Eugenia Prokop-Janiec, Polish-Jewish Literature in the Interwar Years, trans. Abe Shenitzer (Syracuse, N.Y., 2003); Anna Rzymska, Kamienny most. Tradycja judaistyczna w twórczo?ci Romana Brandstaettera (Olsztyn, 2005).
Author
Eugenia Prokop-Janiec
Translation
Translated from Polish by Christina Manetti; revised by Magda Opalski
Roman Brandstaetter was born in Tarnów, to a religious Jewish family, being the grandson of rabbi Mordechai David Brandstaedter. Roman Brandstaetter graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków with a degree in philosophy and Polish and taught in a Jewish high school in Warsaw.[1]
Beginning in 1927, he published poetry and critical essays in the publications "Chwila" and "Nowy Dziennik". In 1928, he published his first volume of poetry, titled Jarzma ("Yokes"). He wrote exclusively in Polish and actively participated in literary discussions, and was also interested in history. A particular focus for him was the problem of assimilation, which in the Polish context took on additional dimensions and meaning. In his work Tragedie Juliana Klaczki ("The Tragedy of Julian Klaczko") (1933), for example, he described the fate of assimilated Jews in Poland during the partitions. His study titled Legion ?ydowski Adama Mickiewicza ("Adam Mickiewicz's Jewish Legion") (1932) stirred a great controversy; in it, he depicted the great Polish Romantic poet 's initiative as being the precursor to the Zionist program, and as a result was criticized by Tadeusz Boy-?ele?ski, among others.
In 1933-35, Brandstaetter was the director of the literary section of a Zionist Polish-language publication called "Opinia", in which he published his programmatic article "Sprawa poezji polsko-?ydowskiej" ("The Problem of Polish-Jewish Poetry") (1933). This text remains one of the most important analyses regarding this topic. It launched a discussion about Polish Jewish poets writing in Polish who, according to Brandstaetter, "breathed [...] the Jewish national spirit into the Polish language of poetry".[2]
Brandstaetter published the following volumes of poetry: Droga pod gór? ("Uphill Road") (1931), W?z?y i miecze ("Knots and Swords") (1932), Królestwo trzeciej ?wi?tyni ("Kingdom of the Third Temple") (1933) and Jerozolima ?wiat?a i mroku ("Jerusalem of Light and Darkness") (1935). During the interwar period [1918-1939], they became a pretext for vicious anti-Semitic attacks on their author. The poet's reaction was a brilliant essay titled Zmowa eunuchów ("Conspiracy of the Eunuchs") (1936).[3]
Move to Palestine: 1940–1946[edit]
After the start of the Second World War, Brandstaetter was in Vilnius. In 1940, he left that city, and through Moscow, Baku and Iran went to the Middle East; in Palestine, he worked for the Polish Telegraph Agency. This was an unusual period for him in many respects: though he decided to convert to Christianity at that time, it must be emphasized that he never abandoned Jewish traditions, something which he himself often stressed.
In exile: 1946–1948[edit]
In 1946, Brandstaetter left Palestine for Rome, where he served as cultural attaché at the Polish embassy and was baptized. During his stay in Rome, Roman Brandstaette married Regina Wiktor. It must be emphasized that he never abandoned his Jewish roots or background, something he often spoke about and was very proud of.
Return to Poland: 1948-1987[edit]
In 1948, he returned to Poland, where he settled in Pozna?. After the war, he wrote, among other things, the following works: a poetry anthology titled S?owo nad s?owami ("The Word Over Words") (1964); Cztery poematy biblijne ("Four Biblical Poems") (1972); and a four-part novel titled Jezus z Nazaretu ("Jesus of Nazareth") (1967–73). As the titles themselves suggest, these works address Biblical themes, interpreted in the context of one individual's experience, which join two different traditions. An excellent example of this is also his biographical novel, Kr?g biblijny ("Bible Study Group") (1975). He also draws on the tradition of Chasidic parables, apparent in his work Inne kwiatki ?wi?tego Franciszka z Asy?u ("Other Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi") (1976).
Brandstaetter also wrote historical plays, such as Powrót syna marnotrawnego ("Return of the Prodigal Son") (1944) - a play based on Rembrandt's biography; Noce narodowe ("Nights of the Nation") (1946–48), Znaki wolno?ci ("Signs of Freedom") (1953), Marcho?t (1954), and Teatr ?wi?tego Franciszka ("Theater of St. Francis") (before 1958). His story Ja jestem ?yd z 'Wesela' ("I am the Jew from 'Wesele' ") (1972; 1981) attracted much attention. The work was a literary dialogue with the text of one of the greatest Polish plays by Stanis?aw Wyspia?ski, Wesele ("The Wedding"). Brandstaetter's story was adapted for radio, theater and television. Roman Brandstaetter also translated works from Hebrew, including Psalter (1968), German, English (Shakespeare's works), French, Dutch and Czech.
He also wrote extensively for the Polish Catholic press, including the Catholic weekly magazine, Tygodnik Powszechny, consolidating his reputation as one of Poland’s leading religious writers.
Death[edit]
Brandstaetter died in Pozna? on September 28, 1987 of a heart attack. He was buried next to his wife Regina, née Brochwicz-Wiktor (who died a year earlier) in the Milostowo Cemetery in Pozna?.
Legacy[edit]
Brandstaetter’s biography reflects the dramatic experiences and radical ideological choices facing twentieth-century Jewish intelligentsia. His life was shaped by Zionism and, later, Catholicism, while his literary output synthesized Jewish, Polish, Christian, and Greek and Roman traditions. His program for Polish Jewish literature called on writers to serve the cause of Zionism, while his interwar poetry relied on classical poetics to address universal and national Jewish themes, especially biblical ones. Cross-fertilization between Judaism and Christianity is central to Brandstaetter’s postwar works, including his best-known novel, Jezus z Nazarethu—an epic about Christ written in biblical style, exegetic in approach. The figure of Christ, shown against the background of first-century Palestine, is presented in historical context, while the Gospels are interpreted as continuing the tradition of the Old Testament. The novel’s language is rooted in biblical imagery, symbols, and parables, and uses biblical literary techniques.
Critics have praised Brandstaetter’s lyric poetry for its function of “hermeneutics of the Judeo-Christian tradition,” as Wojciech Gutowski has termed it, while autobiographical works portray the writer as a bicultural artist, scion of a family rooted in Haskalah. His grandfather, the writer Mordekhai Brandstetter (1844–1928), often appears in Roman Brandstaetter’s work offering insights into values underlying Jewish life.

From Yad Vashem
Noach Brandstaetter was born in Brzesko, Poland in 1881 to Israel and Rivka. He was a merchant. Prior to WWII he lived in Krakow, Poland.

Noach was murdered in the Shoah. 

This information is based on the reports by his brother  AAron who lived in Dizingof 80 Tel Aviv   There is also a report by his daughter Pnina who lived in Givaat Shmuel.:
She wrote that his wife was Gusta Sturfz and they had 4 children . His brother wrote that he perished in Auschwitz 1943 with his wifw Gusta Gitel