Amsterdam’s Choir of the Great Synagogue 1935

November 1935, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the NIHS Jewish Community of Amsterdam (orthodox Ashkenazi congregation started 1635) the dutch film factory Polygoon brought this unique cinema sound newsreel of the Amsterdam Choir of the Great Synagogue led by choirmaster Samuel Henri (Sam) Englander, with a solo perfomance by chazzan (cantor) Izrael Eljasz Maroko in the Great Synagogue (inauguration building 1671) – now home to the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam, Holland (Ref 1).

As the Amsterdamsche Joodsche Koor (Amsterdam Jewish Choir), the choir also performed in non-religious venues, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (Ref 2). The choir’s repertoire was expanded to include what were referred to as Eastern European Jewish folksongs and modern Palestinian-Jewish songs (i.e., contemporary Hebrew songs).
The Choir of the Great Synagogue and Amsterdam Jewish Choir was composed of the following singers (those marked with an asterisk sang during synagogue services):

Giacomo Aletrino (tenor)
Marcus Bonn (bass)
Joop Delcanho* (tenor)
David Duque (bass)
Michel Gobets (tenor)
Nathan Gobets Sr.* (tenor)
Barend Levie Muller* (bass)
Meijer Nebig* (baritone)
Lou Nieweg* (tenor)
David Peeper* (baritone)
Louis Polak (bass)
Jo Rabbie* (baritone)
Sal Stodel (baritone)
Bernard de Wit (bass)
Louis de Wit* (bass)
Of all of them, only Lou Nieweg is known to have survived the Second World War.

NL (dutch)

November 1935, ter gelegenheid van het 300-jarig bestaan van de NIHS Joodse Gemeenschap van Amsterdam (de Asjkenazische gemeente Amsterdam of ‘Nederlands Israëlitische Hoofd Synagoge’) kwam het Polygoon bioscoopjournaal met deze unieke geluidsfilm van het Amsterdams Koor der Grote Synagoge onder leiding van koordirigent Samuel Henri (Sam) Englander, met een solo van oppervoorzanger Izrael Eljasz Maroko in de Grote Synagoge in Amsterdam (inwijding gebouw 1671) – nu het Joods Historisch Museum (Ref 1).

Het koor trad ook op als het Amsterdamsche Joodsche Koor op niet-religieuze locaties, waaronder het Amsterdamse Concertgebouw (Ref 2). Het uitgebreide repertoire van het koor omvatte ook zogenaamde Oost-Europese Joodse volksliederen en moderne Palestijnse-Joodse liederen (d.w.z. hedendaagse Hebreeuwse liederen).
Het Koor der Grote Synagoge en het Amsterdam Joods Koor bestond uit de volgende zangers (die met een asterisk gemarkeerd, zongen tijdens synagoge-diensten):

Giacomo Aletrino (tenor)
Marcus Bonn (bas)
Joop Delcanho * (tenor)
David Duque (bas)
Michel Gobets (tenor)
Nathan Gobets Sr. * (tenor)
Barend Levie Muller * (bas)
Meijer Nebig * (bariton)
Lou Nieweg * (tenor)
David Peeper * (bariton)
Louis Polak (bas)
Jo Rabbie * (bariton)
Sal Stodel (bariton)
Bernard de Wit (bas)
Louis de Wit * (bas)
Alleen van Lou Nieweg is bekend dat hij de Tweede Wereldoorlog heeft overleefd.

Notes

1. De Eerste Zichtbare Synagoge Van West-Europa. Amsterdam (Netherlands) : Joods Historisch Museum | jck.nl ; (accessed 2019 Aug 30). Link URL: https://jck.nl/nl/longread/de-grote-synagoge
2. Anton Kras. The Choir of the Great Synagogue, Amsterdam, Holland. Tel Aviv (Israel) : Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot | http://www.bh.org.il ; (accessed 2019 Aug 30). Link URL: https://www.bh.org.il/choir-great-synagogue-amsterdam/

Source: Polygoon-Profilti courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Public Domain – Open Images).

Citation info : Amsterdam’s Choir of the Great Synagogue 1935 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • 20190830 • URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2019/08/30/amsterdams-choir-of-the-great-synagogue-1935/

Amsterdam Sjabbos Screening

① memo 20190828 ~ Amsterdam Sjabbos Screening ~ Projection installation in the Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum (Dutch: Joods Historisch Museum) occupying four former synagogues – showing images of cantor Maroko in the Great Synagogue (Dutch: Grote Synagoge) also used in the 1932 documentary film Sjabbos | Friday Night (1932 by G.J. Teunissen) posted recently https://wp.me/s14gqN-sjabbos
Here filmed during a visit at the Joods Historisch Museum with filmmakers Richard an Karen Bloom , Saturday May 10, 2014.

Breaking News – Polygoon sound film David Hamburger 1931

Like in Hollywood , the Jewish Dutch are prominent in the Dutch film world before World War II – during the interbellum.
The three top players in the Dutch film industry also share that Jewish background – Abraham Tuschinski (Ref. 1, 2), Loet C. Barnstijn (Ref. 3) and David Hamburger Jr.

Here a speech by David Hamburger jr., chairman of the Nederlandsche Bioscoopbond (NBB) (Dutch Union of Cinema Proprietors), a film published May 17, 1931 (commissioned by Polygoon / courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision – Open Images) on the upcoming Polygoon cinema newsreels with sound that will soon replace the silent newsreels of Polygoons Hollands Nieuws (Dutch News).

References

1. Michel van der Burg. 2017 Jul 24. Turn .. “Draaien” .. Filmland 1934. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nnk
2. Michel van der Burg. 2017 Nov 25. Lon’s World Premiere. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nhx
3. Michel van der Burg. 2019 Aug 24. Hollywood in Holland – Barnstijn’s FILMSTAD Opening 1935. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nng

① memo 20190826 ~ Breaking News – Polygoon sound film David Hamburger 1931

Hollywood in Holland – Barnstijn’s FILMSTAD Opening 1935

Film City “Filmstad Wassenaar” – his film studio complex in Wassenaar near The Hague – is opened in 1935 by the dutch jewish cinema operator , film distributor and producer Loet C. Barnstijn (born in 1880 as Lodewijk Cohen) starting you might say a Hollywood in Holland. After first working in textiles, he sold his business to start in the film business as a cinema operator. He was a film distributor , an inventor with Philips of a synchronized sound system using records .. the Loetafoon, and introduced the sound film in Holland in the early 1930s. During the war Filmstad was confiscated, and became UFA Filmstadt Den Haag. The allies bombed the complex in 1944. After the war Barnstijn lived in the USA were he died in 1953.
Cinema newsreel, October 1935, from Polygoon courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).

Sound (speeches) starts after arrival of the guests at 3 min 20 sec.

Yesterday I posted on his first production the artistic documentary “Sjabbos“. ① memo 20190824 ~ Hollywood in Holland – Barnstijn’s FILMSTAD

Mokum Market ~ Amsterdam Jewish Quarter 1931 (update)

① memo 20190815 ~ Mokum Market ~ Amsterdam Jewish Quarter 1931 ~ New version of yesterday’s (20190814) film – slowed to 75%*. Sunday outdoor market in the ‘Nieuwe Uylenburgerstraat’ street in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam (Mokum). Dutch Polygoon cinema newsreel 25 January 1931. The market on the Uilenburgerstraat specialized in second-hand goods fish, and other food products, including the ever-popular ‘Jewish pickles’. The Depression in the 1930s led to unemployment in many trades, including the diamond industry, where many Jews had worked. As a consequence, the number of market vendors and peddlers increased in the 1930s. In September 1941 the Nazis prohibited Jews from trading at public markets. Special markets where only Jews were allowed to trade opened nearby. Very few Jewish market and street vendors survived the war. The Uilenburgerstraat market never reopened (info source https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/671/jewish-market-and-street-vendors-in-amsterdam ). Footage thanks to Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).

* Note – Yesterday’s film (Mokum Market version 20190814) seems sped up – probably because of a wrong play speed when scanned for digitalisation). Thus , I post this new version today, sloweddown to 75% speed at play back – based subjectively on how motion of people looks , and based on other writings that silent films are often distributed with instructions for the projectionist to be run at 18fps , rather then the modern 24 frames per second – thus requiring a 18/24 = 75% fps.

Mokum Market ~ Amsterdam Jewish Quarter 1931

① memo 20190814 ~ Mokum Market ~ Amsterdam Jewish Quarter 1931 ~ Sunday outdoor market in the ‘Nieuwe Uylenburgerstraat’ street in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam (Mokum). Dutch Polygoon cinema newsreel 25 January 1931. The market on the Uilenburgerstraat specialized in second-hand goods fish, and other food products, including the ever-popular ‘Jewish pickles’. The Depression in the 1930s led to unemployment in many trades, including the diamond industry, where many Jews had worked. As a consequence, the number of market vendors and peddlers increased in the 1930s. In September 1941 the Nazis prohibited Jews from trading at public markets. Special markets where only Jews were allowed to trade opened nearby. Very few Jewish market and street vendors survived the war. The Uilenburgerstraat market never reopened (info source https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/671/jewish-market-and-street-vendors-in-amsterdam ). Footage thanks to Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).

Update 20190815

Film playback seems sped up. Thus , I posted a new version the next day, slowed-down to 75% speed at play back – see post 20190815.

Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip | 20190812

Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip

After the war , in 1946, the National Institute for War Documentation in Holland (Ref 1), known as the ‘RIOD’ (Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie) collected the footage filmed by the Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer spring 1944 in the Westerbork transit camp.

Not all of this RIOD raw film footage – 9 reels of film – was handed over in 1986 to the RVD (Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst) , the Dutch National Centre for Information, were these reels were glued together into the 4 parts (Acte 1 , Acte 2 , Acte 3 , and Acte 4) that have become known as the “Westerbork film” (Ref 2).

The story of research on this unique film footage published in the 1997 Dutch book ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ – Camp Westerbork filmed (Ref 3) – included findings of more film footage on which I reported before : a forgotten reel (Ref 4), an unknown reel (Ref 5) footage in a 1948 Polygoon newsreel (Ref 6, 7) and lost fragments on an extra 1948 Polygoon reel (Ref 8) .

Another ‘lost’ fragment was traced in clips the RIOD had extracted for use in the 60s dutch TV series ‘De bezetting’ (The Occupation) presented by RIOD director Loe de Jong, and directed by Milo Anstadt (Ref 9).

That ca 10 sec short film fragment “Loading toilet barrels in train wagon 8” (dutch : (Toilet tonnetjes inladen bij wagon 8) was identified in Episode 9 ‘De Jodenvervolging’ (The Jews Persecution) broadcasted first in 1962 via dutch public TV – and is posted unedited here.

References

1. RIOD 1948 | 20190808 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2j

2. Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link https://wp.me/p91enH-1x

3. ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen); ISBN 9023232658

4. Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015 | 20190615 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2a

5. Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 | 20190616 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b

6. Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 | 20190520 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 6). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p1IheQ-JY

7. Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News | 20190806 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 7). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2h

8. Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298 | 20190807 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2i

9. Wikipedia. The Kingdom of the Netherlands During World War II. (accessed 2019 Aug 13). URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands_During_World_War_II

Credit / Edit / Source info

Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip.
Fragment “Loading toilet barrels in train wagon 8” unedited except for minor cropping.
Source NTS, De Bezetting, De Jodenvervolging 1962 (cat G42002C1) courtesy of dutch public broadcast NPO-VPRO.
Original footage (public domain) filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip | 20190812 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com – CC BY 4.0 .

Updates

20190813. Post updated with more background and more references.

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references