Jewish quarter in Poland
Creator(s)
- David Kurtz (Camera Operator)
- Mr. Glenn Kurtz
Biographical History
David and Lena (Liza) Kurtz travelled to Europe from New York in 1938. Both were born in Poland and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1890s. David founded the American Blouse Company in the 1920s, later named the David Kurtz Shirt Company. The couple had three children. While abroad in 1938, David took 16mm film of the trip, including color street scenes of a Jewish quarter in Nasielsk, Poland (David and Louis's hometown). The trip was made with three friends, Louis and Lillian Malina, and Louis's sister, Essie Malina Diamond, who appear frequently on camera. David died in 1958; Liza lived to the age of 96.
Scope and Content
Street scenes, dark, people gathered, automobile. Interior shots of a restaurant (probably Owsianka) in a Jewish quarter in Nasielsk, Poland, many people looking inside the window in clear view. Several wonderful street scenes of people, especially children, in the Jewish quarter grinning and vying for the camera's attention. A sign above a shop indicates a grocery, "Spozywczy". Some people have been identified, including: Shmuel Tyk and Faiga Milchberg at 01:11:25, Chaim Talmud and Shmuel Tyk at 01:11:56, Simcha Rotstein and Avrum Kubel at 01:12:04, Yitzhak Borts at 01:12:09, Srebro at 01:12:11, Chaim Nusen Cwajghaft at 01:12:24, Chezkiah and Chaim Nusen Cwajghaft at 01:12:34. Only approximately 80 of the 3,000 Jews living in Nasielsk in 1939 survived the war.
Note(s)
See black and white footage of the same Jewish quarter in RG-60.4826
Read the 2014 book "Three Minutes in Poland" about this extraordinary home movie. Watch a special video the Museum produced after Maurice Chandler's granddaughter identified him in this film footage at http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V9PzAlbvA08
Subjects
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- SIGNS/POSTERS
- CROWDS
- POLAND
- SHOPS
- JEWS
- CHILDREN (JEWISH)
- STREETS
Places
- Nasielsk, Poland
- , Poland
Genre
- Amateur.
- Film