Visiting Switzerland
On a boat in Switzerland, views of villages, including Hotel Beaux-Rivage and Hotel "Gotthard" (sign). Seaside views of mountains.
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Record last modified: 2023-11-07 12:22:03
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1004330
Also in David Kurtz Collection
Glenn Kurtz donated home movies documenting the European vacation made by his grandparents and some friends in 1938. In addition to scenes shot in Switzerland, The Netherlands, France, England, and on their return journey on the Queen Mary, the original film shows the Jewish quarter in the David Kurtz's hometown of Nasielsk, Poland, in stunning color and black and white. Highlights include people exiting the local synagogue, street scenes, and family mingling with local townspeople. Only approximately 80 of the 3,000 Jews living in Nasielsk in 1939 survived the war. One reel of 16mm film (14 minutes)
Jewish quarter of Nasielsk
Film
In the Jewish quarter, a tracking LS follows a boy with a cocked hat who makes an effort to stay on camera. Dark silhouetted interior (of a restaurant, probably Owsianka), faces cannot be deciphered. Bright exterior CU of group of children in the street. Excited to be on camera, they wave and move together as the camera rotates. 01:03:06 Fourteen year old Maurice Chandler [nee Moszek Tuchendler] wearing a dark cap. Sign indicating "Spozywczy", a grocery storefront. Several shots of crowded streets. Many exit the synagogue together, walking down the set of stairs. Some people have been identified, including: Czarna Mirla at 01:02:54, Jankl Piekarek [or Wilczynski] at 01:02:59, Moszek Tuchendler at 01:03:06, Czarna and Miriam Mirla at 01:03:14, Yitzhak Borts, Simcha Rotstein at 01:03:23, Shmuel Tyk at 01:03:42, and Avrum Kubel at 01:03:43. Only approximately 80 of the 3,000 Jews living in Nasielsk in 1939 survived the war.
Americans travel to Europe on Nieuw Amsterdam ship
Film
Title card reading: "Our Trip To Holland, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, France and England 1938". Liza Kurtz, Louis and Lillian Malina, and Essie Diamond on deck of Nieuw Amsterdam ship at sea. Napping and relaxing on deck. Lillian reads the NYTimes magazine dated July 24 about Henry Ford receiving a birthday award from Hitler. The ship departed the port in Hoboken, NJ at 12:40pm on Saturday July 23, 1938. HAS, crowds of people on board a ferry in Boulogne, France or Amsterdam, Netherlands, some waving. The Nieuw Amsterdam stopped first in Plymouth, England on July 30, then in Boulogne, and finally in Amsterdam on July 31.
Kurtz family and friends approach New York City
Film
Interiors of Queen Mary ship at sea, the four American friends walking down a brightly lit corridor with clock reading 7:03 AM on September 5, 1938. David Kurtz in a gray suit and short, red, wide-bottomed tie. Window reflection with the three women smiling. Extreme LS of distant Statue of Liberty viewed from the S.S. Queen Mary. Pan across New York City skyline from north to south. Various posed shots of Essie, Louis, Lillian, Liza, and David aboard ship. David holds the camera case under his arm. HAS of people on deck greeting the ship's passengers, including David and Liza's three children, Jerome (b. 1919), Milton (b. 1925, Glenn's father), and Shirley (b. 1927). Jerome waves.
Touring Volendam and Brussels
Film
Girls dressed in Dutch costume in Volendam, Netherlands. Volendam is a popular tourist attraction in the Netherlands, well known for its old fishing boats and the traditional clothing still worn by some residents. The women's costume of Volendam, with its high, pointed bonnet, is one of the most recognizable of the Dutch traditional costumes. The four friends sit outside Cafe Spaander in Volendam, probably on August 1. Signpost shows where folks gather to return to "Amsterdam". CUs, women with children. The Americans walk in gardens in Brussels, most likely on August 2, 1938, dressed the same as seen at 01:10:46. 01:10:27 Louis, Lillian, Essie, and Liza pose in front of a stone statue of four bears beside ivy-covered building. This may be in Geneva, Switzerland at the League of Nations building when the visited in early or mid August (9 to 15?). 01:10:46 In Brussels on August 2, the four Americans descend stairs and walk towards the camera. Liza Kurtz smiles beautifully. They visit a cathedral, possibly in Brussels or the Hague. 01:11:00 Grand Place in Brussels - an open square and a flower market with with umbrellas.
Jewish quarter in Poland
Film
Street scenes, dark, people gathered, automobile. Interior shots of a restaurant (probably Owsianka) in a Jewish quarter in Nasielsk, Poland, many people looking inside the window in clear view. Several wonderful street scenes of people, especially children, in the Jewish quarter grinning and vying for the camera's attention. A sign above a shop indicates a grocery, "Spozywczy". Some people have been identified, including: Shmuel Tyk and Faiga Milchberg at 01:11:25, Chaim Talmud and Shmuel Tyk at 01:11:56, Simcha Rotstein and Avrum Kubel at 01:12:04, Yitzhak Borts at 01:12:09, Srebro at 01:12:11, Chaim Nusen Cwajghaft at 01:12:24, Chezkiah and Chaim Nusen Cwajghaft at 01:12:34. Only approximately 80 of the 3,000 Jews living in Nasielsk in 1939 survived the war.
Four Americans visit Lake Lucerne
Film
The four friends pose in a doorway at Grand Hotel National in Lucerne, numbered 4 Haldenstrassen. At a pier from which they would take a ferry across Lake Lucerne, views of the mountains.
Kurtz family and friends on European tour in the south of France, Paris, and Switzerland
Film
MS of Liza Kurtz, Louis and Lillian Malina and Essie Diamond smiling for the camera and admiring the landscape from Parc Municipal du Mt. Boron in Southern France in mid August 1938. Panning shot of city and harbor of Nice and distant mountains. 01:05:12 Over shoulder shot of Louis in a sunhat pointing toward the old city of Monaco from the Jardins Exotique. 01:05:19 Street scenes in a city, possibly Cannes. Louis in a suit, and African soldier with a red hat. 01:05:27 LS of Liza, Louis, Lily, and Essie feeding birds in Paris in front of the Préfecture de Police and the Hôtel-Dieu, most likely on August 19. The American friends board a train at a station. 01:05:48 MS elderly woman making what appear to be lace doilies for sale on street. Liza holds a box camera in her hand. 01:06:00 Traveling shots of the Swiss Alps, countryside, and villages from a train. The friends are on a small gauge railroad to see Lautenbach-Staubbach Falls, and later visit the towns of Muerren and Wengen. MS, smoke rising from the Hotel Regina in Wengen. ELS of hotel bearing the words, "Hotel Jungfrau." Panorama of the Alps between Jungfrau and Eiger. 01:07:22 Liza, Louis, Lillian, and Essie tour the city of Geneva and visit the League of Nations headquarters, sometime in mid-August.
Touring Volendam
Film
LS of the four American travelers posing beside a tree in front of an unidentified building, probably in Amsterdam on July 31 or August 1, 1938. Louis Malina is smoking and waving to the camera. Street life in Volendam, Netherlands. Volendam is a popular tourist attraction in the Netherlands, well known for its old fishing boats and the traditional clothing still worn by some residents. The women's costume of Volendam, with its high, pointed bonnet, is one of the most recognizable of the Dutch traditional costumes. Pan views of boats docked in the Volendam harbor. People and children, some in traditional dress with paper hats, often look toward the camera and pose.
