Market; shops
Creator(s)
- Bernard Klein (Subject)
- Louis Sommer (Camera Operator)
- Emery Klein
- Harry Sommer (Subject)
- Emery Klein (Subject)
- Bernard Klein
Biographical History
Louis Sommer was born in Izbugya, Hungary and emigrated to the United States in 1899. He settled in Omaha, Nebraska where he owned a grocery business at the intersection of Dodge Street and 49th Street. Louis and his brother Harry visited their father Barnath and extended family and friends in Humenne, Slovakia in March 1932. They recorded Jewish families and businesses with a movie camera.
Bernard and Emery Klein were born in Humenné, Slovakia. They had a younger sister, Judith (b. 1933); their mother was Jacob Grossman's sister; their father, Hermann Klein, owned a kosher and non-kosher meat market, farm and brick manufacturing company in Humenné. The Germans occupied the area in 1939 and started to deport the Jews in 1941. The Klein family was not deported until 1944 because Mr. Klein was an important farming advisor. The family was sent to Auschwitz without Bernard, who had become separated. Mrs. Klein and her daughter were immediately gassed upon arrival at the camp. Bernard was reunited with his brother and father at Auschwitz a month later. The three were sent to Gleiwitz where Emery and his father worked in a factory while Bernard worked in the concentration camp kitchen. In 1945, as the Russian army advanced into the area, the camp was evacuated to Blechhammer, another camp in the vicinity. The German guards fled the camp, leaving the prisoners. A few days later, the brothers, their father and several others began walking back to Humenné. The Klein family moved to Israel, Montreal, and eventually to Detroit, Michigan. Their cousin, Ladislav Grossman, also survived; he is the author of the award-winning film, "A Shop on Main Street" (1965).
Bernard and Emery Klein were born in Humenné, Slovakia. They had a younger sister, Judith (b. 1933); their mother was Jacob Grossman's sister; their father, Hermann Klein, owned a kosher and non-kosher meat market, farm and brick manufacturing company in Humenné. The Germans occupied the area in 1939 and started to deport the Jews in 1941. The Klein family was not deported until 1944 because Mr. Klein was an important farming advisor. The family was sent to Auschwitz without Bernard, who had become separated. Mrs. Klein and her daughter were immediately gassed upon arrival at the camp. Bernard was reunited with his brother and father at Auschwitz a month later. The three were sent to Gleiwitz where Emery and his father worked in a factory while Bernard worked in the concentration camp kitchen. In 1945, as the Russian army advanced into the area, the camp was evacuated to Blechhammer, another camp in the vicinity. The German guards fled the camp, leaving the prisoners. A few days later, the brothers, their father and several others began walking back to Humenné. The Klein family moved to Israel, Montreal, and eventually to Detroit, Michigan. Their cousin, Ladislav Grossman, also survived; he is the author of the award-winning film, "A Shop on Main Street" (1965).
Scope and Content
Reel 5. Intertitle: "Market Days - Monday and Friday." Crowds mill about town square (fuzzy) on market day. 02:07:03 One of the visiting Americans (Louis or Harry Sommer) buys a chicken from a vendor. Carts, cows, automobiles at the marketplace on the main square (across from the Klein family's shop). People walk towards camera. Buying and selling material. Shops in BG. Carts pass, followed by women. 02:07:50 Brief scene of Sommer and Klein family members walking towards the camera in alley. Crowds in town square for market days, walking toward and past camera. "Jakob Grossman", a leather goods shop, from a distance with a cart with hay in front of the store. The American relative in a dark suit walks towards the camera in front of another shop, "Bernath Handler." Townspeople in front of shops in Humenne. Square, shops, cats, cows, people. Well-dressed men on streets, three women in white dresses pass. The family's "Hermann Klein" truck parked on the main street. Walking in the town streets again, well-dressed.
Note(s)
The five original film reels are labeled: (1) Around Before LS Europe Trip (Film ID 2988); (2) My Trip to Europe - March 29, 1932 (Film ID 412.1); (3) My Trip to Europe Continued (Film ID 412.2); (4) My Trip to Europe Continued (Film ID 413); (5) Louis Sommer's Family Abroad (Film ID 2989).
For more information, review the Oral History with Bernard and Emery Klein from May 23, 1984 at http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/klein/ or RG-50.155*0228. Refer also to the Washington Post article on the first transport to Auschwitz with teenage girls from Humenne, including Edith Friedman Grosman: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/01/27/first-transport-jews-auschwitz-was-997-teenage-girls-few-survived/
Subjects
- CARTS/WAGONS
- HORSES
- SHOPS
- JEWS
- VILLAGES
- WOMEN
- AUTOMOBILES
- COWS
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- TRUCKS
- CZECHOSLOVAKIA
- CAFES
- FAMILIES
- SLOVAKIA
- CROWDS
- MARKETS
- BUSINESSES
Places
- , Czechoslovakia
- Humenne, Slovakia
Genre
- Film
- Amateur.