The Jews and the silver screen: Poland at the end of the 1920s

Abstract

Although the second half of the 1930s (1935–1939) is known as the “Golden Age” of Yiddish cinema, these years could not have been such a high point had Jewish audiences not already obtained solid movie viewing habits throughout the 1920s. This paper presents some of the dilemmas that arose as a result of the encounter of Jewish society, including the traditional sector, with the silver screen during a time of transition the end of the 1920s, when the era of silent movies was ending and movies with sound began to dominate the art form. In these earlier years the popularity of cinema among the Jewish population in Poland was used in their struggle as a national minority. Jewish affection for the cinema integrated into their demands that the majority take their Jewish cultural needs into consideration. In addition, the discussion about the art of films in various Yiddish periodicals integrated the ongoing discussion about the relationship between high and popular culture that had begun earlier.

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