Jewish businesses in Vienna
Creator(s)
- Mr. Peter Gessner
- Robert J. Gessner (Camera Operator)
Biographical History
Robert Gessner was born on October 21, 1907 in Escanaba, MI. He obtained a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1929 and a M.A. from Columbia University in 1930. He started teaching at New York University in 1930. He married Doris Lindeman on May 27, 1938 and had two children, Peter and Stephen. Mr. Gessner was a screen playwright and the author of several books, including "Massacre" (1931); "Broken Arrow" (1933); "Some of My Best Friends are Jews" (1936); "Treason" (1944); "Youth is the Time" (1945). He was a pioneer educator in motion pictures as an art form. Gessner founded the Motion Picture Department (now Cinema Studies) at NYU in 1941, the first four-year film curriculum leading to a B.A. degree in motion picture studies in the United States. He finished his book "The Moving Image, A Guide to Cinematic Literacy" before he died in June 1968.
Scope and Content
Close pan of shops, in Vienna, on a sunny day. Filmed at Seitenstettengasse and Judengasse. 01:07:40 "Judengasse" street sign above shop in Vienna. Soldier with rifle on street corner at 01:07:45. Doors of a synagogue (?). Views of Judengasse from an upstairs window guarded by a soldier. 01:08:21 Local men pose for the camera, pigs roam the streets (location unknown, possibly outside Berlin).
Note(s)
The original Kodak film contains a 1934/54 date code [plus/circle] Robert Gessner published a book in 1936 about his overseas travels called "Some of my Best Friends Are Jews"
Subjects
- SHOPS
- STREETS
- CITIES
- AUSTRIA
- SYNAGOGUES
- SOLDIERS/MILITARY
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- WORKERS
- JEWS
Places
- Vienna, Austria
Genre
- Amateur.
- Film