Daily life in Poland, street scenes in Warsaw

Identifier
irn1003379
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2003.214
  • RG-60.3942
Dates
1 Jan 1936 - 31 Dec 1936, 1 Jan 1937 - 31 Dec 1937
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Silent
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Julien Hequembourg Bryan (1899-1974) was an American documentarian and filmmaker. Bryan traveled widely taking 35mm film that he sold to motion picture companies. In the 1930s, he conducted extensive lecture tours, during which he showed film footage he shot in the former USSR. Between 1935 and 1938, he captured unique records of ordinary people and life in Nazi Germany and in Poland, including Jewish areas of Warsaw and Krakow and anti-Jewish signs in Germany. His footage appeared in March of Time theatrical newsreels. His photographs appeared in Life Magazine. He was in Warsaw in September 1939 when Germany invaded and remained throughout the German siege of the city, photographing and filming what would become America's first cinematic glimpse of the start of WWII. He recorded this experience in both the book Siege (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1940) and the short film Siege (RKO Radio Pictures, 1940) nominated for an Academy Award in 1940. In 1946, Bryan photographed the efforts of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency in postwar Europe.

Scope and Content

A series of TRIMS/short outtakes. 1. 01:00:01:07 MCU, two young Polish women in traditional South Polish folk costumes walk down a dirt path away from a wood frame house and toward the camera. They are on the road leading out of the wooden church. 2. 01:00:04:23 MCU, Warszawa, Poland, house with lion old town, Świętojańska street LAS of architectural details. Several ornate bas-relief designs in the building's facade, and a stepped, curved roof with ceramic tiles. Pan down to more of the building's facade, as well as the street lamps and street corner below. 3. 01:00:13:11, MS, Kraków, Poland, Basztowa street, large, ornate, municipal building in a town square, a horse drawn carriage is in the FG. 4. 01:00:18:04 LS, Kraków, Poland, Floriańska street, woman and a small child seated on a park bench in Warsaw, they accompany a baby, sitting up, in a large pram. Several stone buildings in the BG. 5. MS, tracking shot, taken from the point of view of a streetcar making its way down an unidentified city street. People walk along near the shop windows, in the distance a cathedral is visible, silhouetted against the sky, the sign on the back of the trolley car reads: "Most Podgerski". 6. MLS, a group of young women walk down a street, some carry backpacks, they are viewed from behind, a horse drawn carriage in the FG, a large castle-like building in the BG. 7. LS, large, open plaza. People cross the plaza. A statue of a man on a horse in the distance. Few cars parked in the plaza. 8. MS, a walking bridge that joins two buildings together. The camera pans the bridge and the tops of the buildings, to reveal bas relief details in the facade as well as decorative columns in relief. 9. 01:00:53:14, MS, Warszawa, Poland, old town square, horse drawn carriage, pedestrians, stop sign, street lamp. 10. 01:00:56:00, LS, Kraków, Poland, Wisła River, view from Wawel castle on river and Dębnicki bridge, on the left Różanowski house villa. Workers steer the barges along the waterway.

Note(s)

  • Additional photographs are available in the USHMM Photo Archives. The original title on the film can, as well as the original film leader indicate the year as 1936 and the location as Central Poland. It is possible that some shots are Lodz, and still others Warsaw and Krakow. Further research is needed to confirm these locations. Film lab inspection notes also indicate several slugs within the reel that allude to locations: i.e.: "Cracow Road to Paderemski Bridge", "Cracow shop windows" and "Cracow Jewish quarter". Timestamped notes provided by Agnieszka Generowicz via email 1/3/2022.

Subjects

Places

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.