Marian Brandys was a Polish writer and screenwriter born in Wiesbaden into an assimilated Jewish family of the Polish intelligentsia. Brandys grew up in Łódź. His father owned a bank. Their prosperity allowed Marian, and his younger brother, Kazimierz, to attend the best private school for boys (name?), sponsored by the city's merchants' club, Zgromadzenie Kupców Miasta Łodzi.