Jewish Life in Bialystok from the archives of The National Center for Jewish Film DVD

Documentary Film/DVD

Vivid cinematography and music evoke the industrial and cultural center that was Bialystok in 1939. Images of smokestacks, power looms and textile workers; downtown shops and buses, market day with peasants and horses; schools, synagogues, the Sholem Aleichem Library, the TOZ sanatorium and a community-run summer camp reflect the diversity of the city’s 200-year-old Jewish community. In addition to the tile-roofed home of Dr. Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto, Jewish Life in Bialystok features memorable images of a spacious park where young adults relax and children play.

1939, Poland, 10 minutes
B&W Yiddish with complete new English subtitles

Produced by Yitzhak Goskin | Text and Narration by Asher Lerner
Photography by V. Kazimierczak