EN
This interpretation of Brunon Schulz's 'Homeland' (1938), rejects the contention, presented by Jacek Scholz, that the city evoked in that short story is Vienna. Apart from refuting Scholz's argument, this article tries to demonstrate that the actual prototype of the unnamed city from the 'Homeland' was Czerniowce, the historical capital of Bukovina with its unique cultural mosaic of ethnic Germans (Austrians), Ukrainians, Jews, Poles and Romanians. An closer examination of the various layers of Schulz's short story suggests that the problem of its links with the nonfictional reality of any particular location is after all not that important. At heart, the story addresses the issue of 'homeland' conceived as a spiritual centre which the main character can reach by returning to one's essential self. This journey also takes him on the road to death. The contexts for this interpretation are provided by Schulz's late work, German literature, and the Jewish tradition.