Five Cities

In 1938 and 1939, Shaul and Yitzhak Goskind of Warsaw-based Sektor Films produced six short films about urban Jewish communities in Poland. One, about Łódź, is lost. The other five-on Bialystok, Cracow, Lwow, Vilna, and Warsaw-have survived and are now called "Five Cities." These low-budget 35mm films were made for Landsmanshaften groups in America for fundraising purposes. On the eve of war, the Goskinds sent the films to Joseph Seiden, the prolific director in New York who distributed Yiddish newsreels and feature films in the US and Europe. Yiddish titles. English title: "Jewish Life in Krakow" Pan of city of Krakow, buildings, tram, street scenes, statues, city square with pigeons. Streetcars share tree-lined streets with horse-drawn carriages. People conduct business under umbrella-covered markets and arcaded market halls. Jewish children, impoverished housing in Jewish quarter. Scenes of the famous Remu Synagogue and the Alte Shul, an orphanage, a hospital, and the Jewish Community Council. Street scenes with Jews showing the vitality of the community. Several schools. Parks and schoolyards host sports, games and animated discussions. Groups of people, children, elderly. Orthodox Jews (men) go to synagogue. "The End"