Published:
2010
Source: The Center for Jewish History
16 mm Postcards, on view at Yeshiva University Museum August 2010 – January 2011, brings to life the landscape and people in Poland through the amateur movies of immigrant American Jews who traveled “back home” to visit their families, friends, and former communities in the 1920s and 1930s. Intended to be viewed by family and fellow landsmen (friends from the Old Country), these films offer a rare, intimate and—quite literally—moving picture of Jewish families, towns and society in pre-World War II Poland. This exhibition was developed in collaboration with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and in cooperation with the Center for Jewish History.
The films in this exhibition are part of a larger collection that resides in the archives of YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. They are of mixed provenance, and many of these films arrived to the YIVO archives through multiple parties. Still, others came with richer background information on the filmmakers as well as their provenance.
Explore more about the context of these films in the Online Exhibition, view the original home movies and special online-only materials, and for teachers, prepare classes to visit the exhibition with curricular and teaching resources.