A Visit to Pre-War Białystok
Let’s take a walk through the Interwar streets, drawn by the scent of onion buns and the sounds of klezmer music. We’ll see what’s on at the cinemas, drop into the Palace Theatre, dance the banana-slide, and relax in Planty Park.
The National Archives in Washington contain photographs taken by German Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance in September 1944. A couple of them show Białystok or, rather, what was left of it: the roofless Branicki Palace, the empty square by the ruined city hall, gaping holes instead of houses. It’s hard to believe that, a few years earlier, this ‘Manchester of the North’ (so named for its dynamically developing textile industry) was teeming with life. We shall try to capture that culture and elegance – and our guide will be Andrzej Lechowski, a historian and the director of the Podlaski Museum in Białystok, who knows the Interwar city like the back of his hand.
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Białystok, Hotel Ritz, 1918-1929, photo: Jan Wołyński / National Library Polona
When I ask what the city’s cultural showpiece was during the Interwar years, Lechowski replies that it was more likely a projection of how Białystok’s residents imagined the sparkle of the big, wide world. ‘After the war, various legends sprang up, such as the Hotel Ritz – built in 1913 for wealthy Russian merchants to come and do big business. Then the war broke out, and the merchants stopped coming, but the hotel remained’. People from Białystok will tell you that Aleksandr Vertinsky and Hanka Ordonówna stayed there… but in actual fact, there weren’t many other options.
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Hotel Ritz, Białystok, 1906, photo: National Library Polona
Looking at old postcards and adverts, it was a three-storey building in the city centre, between the Branicki Palace and the Biała River. It had marble stairs, a lift, a café (later a cinema), a hairdresser, 50 rooms (plus two suites), bathrooms with hot and cold water, telephones in every room, a billiard room for guests, and garages – impressive indeed. But then, a mystery: during receptions at the hotel, ladies would keep their furs and coats on their chairs, and change out of their winter footwear into their dancing shoes under the table. Why? Because there were thieves at the Ritz! Lechowski adds that occasionally, there were drunken brawls, and rooms rented by the hour.
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Planty Park in Białystok, 1973, photo: Archives of Grażyna Rutowska / audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)
In the 1930s, construction of the so-called elegant district began. The historian explains:
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It was certainly something to boast about, and is still impressive today. The elegant district covers Świętojańska Street, the council settlement, the courts, tax office and theatre buildings, and the Planty Park complex. Altogether, it absolutely was something to be proud of.
Author
Andrzej Lechowski, trans. MB
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Council settlement at Świętojańska Street, from the Planty side, 1933-1939, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)
Planty Park, which one might call Bialystok’s green landmark, combined what was left of Zwierzyniecki Forest with 3rd May Constitution Park and Poniatowski Park. It was designed by Stanisław Gral. The main avenues were flanked by carpets of flowers and ponds, and an open-air concert bowl was built nearby. This oasis of green in the city centre remains little-changed today.
In 1938, plans to renovate Białystok were soon thwarted by the war and never came to fruition. The elegant Hotel Ritz burned down in 1944.
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Ton cinema in Białystok, photo: Edward Falkowski / Forum
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All over Interwar Poland, cinema was an art that was just 10 to 20 years old. It was a complete novelty! The screening of talkies was a real revolution. Picture houses were booming, profitable businesses, and they changed their listings like gloves.
There were five cinemas in Białystok, all in the heart of the city. The Apollo cinema and the Modern (renamed the Pan after it went bankrupt in 1937) belonged to Jewish owners, while the Gryf (on the ground floor of the Ritz), the Polonia (nicknamed the ‘Polońcia’ or ‘Bokówka’), and the Świat (currently the Ton) did not.
But social divisions didn’t bother the audiences, who were more tempted by reasonably priced tickets: on average, 42gr in 1934, and just 33gr two years later. By comparison, Warsaw prices were double that. Białystok also overtook the capital at the box-office: Polish films could even draw audiences of 16,000 (approximately 20% of the city’s residents), and the average Białystoker went to the pictures 14 times a year (while Varsovians went less than 10). Jewish-themed films were very popular, such as Yiddle With His Fiddle and A Letter to Mother. Films in Yiddish were regularly produced in Poland.
On 11th February 1929, Dziennik Białostocki (The Białystok Daily) reported that panicked military horses hitched to a sleigh had ploughed into the Apollo cinema at 22 Sienkiewicz Street (after throwing out a woman and the driver on a bend). Indeed, who wouldn’t have wanted to recline in one of the 800 red-velvet upholstered seats in that theatre with richly wood-panelled walls, to watch one of those films that ‘surpassed anything ever seen before’? Judging by pre-war advertisements, one might imagine Białystok’s cinemas were up to European standards, but Lechowski warns that appearances can be deceptive. They differed in terms of equipment and repertoire.
Whereas the intelligentsia favoured the Modern, which mixed film screenings with stage entertainments, audiences at the Polonia would throw sunflower seeds during shows and stomp their feet in reaction to onscreen events. The Apollo cinema’s screening of box-office smash Ben Hur caused a worldwide press sensation: the local papers described protests in the Jewish community; in London, The Times reported riots, with the film being burnt on a bonfire; and in Argentina, news spread that a state of emergency had been declared in the city to quell the disturbances.
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Actress Nora Ney in Łódź during the screening of the film ‘Córka Generała Pankratowa’ (General Pankratow’s Daughter) with her participation, 1935, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)
Białystok had its own film star – Sonia Najman, aka Nora Ney. Born in a village near Białystok, after leaving school, the actress set out to conquer Warsaw and was soon dubbed ‘Queen of the Polish Screen’. Her dancing talents and jet-black eyes won the audience’s hearts in Policmajster Tagiejew (Officer Tageyew), Uroda Życia (The Beauty of Life), and Doktor Murek (Doctor Murek), and she was glad to visit her home city for film premieres. After the Second World War broke out, Nora Ney and her daughter were exiled to Siberia, along with many other Poles. She emigrated to the United States in 1946, where she played a few minor roles in silent movies.
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By Kazimierz Brzeski, photo: Gebethner and Wolff Music Publishing House ‘Lira Polska’ / National Library Polona
‘Fancy a dance? Get rid of those corns! Come in for a pedicure!’ Such was the enticing advertising slogan of a Bata shoe shop. In between the wars, Białystok residents willingly explored the secrets of ‘the act of love in the vertical position’, aka. ‘the dance of the resting murderer’ – the Charleston. They also knew that to execute a spectacular banana-slide (a variation on the foxtrot), the dance floor had to be suitably prepared by spreading a thick layer of polish on the floorboards and sprinkling it with zinc stearate.
Who offered top-quality ballroom dancing lessons in the city? Maestro Skrzypkowski. He moved to Białystok in 1925, and his first students were officers of the 42nd Infantry Regiment. He soon opened a dance school at the Hotel Ritz, ensuring himself a distinguished clientele. The less-affluent – and less-gifted – pupils of the dancing arts could train their contortions under the watchful eye of Majs or Ulicki. At the Mazur School, music was provided by a jazz band from Poznań, and its exhausted students could unwind at a snack bar. Sokołowski and Moryń’s courses had quite a bad reputation ... unless you were fond of arguing, and movement was not your forte.
Many people were against all these eccentric steps and gestures. In 1938, they called for young people to be banned from frequenting dance schools, claiming that they were ‘caverns of debauchery and depravity’. But only war could stop the city from dancing.
People made merry at sophisticated balls at the Branicki Palace and home gatherings. In the evenings, Sienkiewicz and Kiliński streets and Rynek Kościuszki were filled with the sound of swinging saxophones and shrill clarinets. In the mid-1920s, America first heard a composer from Białystok – Leon, aka Nathan Cygan, who composed the music for a silent movie. Several years later, he settled across the ocean and, going by the name Nathan Cyganeria, conducted Brooklyn orchestras. He mentioned his home city in the songs In Klein Sztetel Bin ich Geboren (I Was Born in a Little Shtetl) and Hejm Majn Białystok (Białystok, My Home), with lyrics by the Białystok poet Abraham Szewach.
Theatre … & a boxing match
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Palace Theater in Białystok, 1912, photo: city archive
After Poland’s independence was restored, the Polish Theatre Association was created, led by Marian Dederko. Since its projects and funding plans could not be implemented due to the economic crisis, they decided on a temporary solution. On 13th September 1924, the City Theatre was inaugurated, based at the Palace Theatre, which had been around for a decade. It was perfectly situated between the Hotel Ritz and the Branicki guest palace, with a spacious 900-seat hall, and central heating… Lechowski points out:
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If the Palace Theatre passed for elegant, we must remember it was a factory hall converted into a theatre, and it was notoriously poorly heated. The audience would freeze, with their teeth chattering. Nevertheless, Ordonówna and Bodo both performed there, but boxing matches were also held – they had to stay afloat somehow.
The owners cared more about stuffing their wallets than their cultural mission, so would also rent out their halls for readings, celebrations, balls, and political-party meetings. You could marvel at the acting one evening, and enjoy big-band jazz the next. Music lovers were treated to arias from operettas, while others preferred a performance by Julian Tuwim, the author of Bal w Operze (A Ball at the Opera).
The Białystok scene mostly hosted Jewish travelling theatres, as well as Juliusz Osterwa’s Reduta Theatre from Vilnius, and troupes from Grodno and Warsaw. So, when the 30-person Miejski Theatre was created, led by Bronisław Skąpski, its new headquarters was also planned. Built in late 1938, the Dom Ludowy (People’s House) somewhat altered the layout of the avenues in Poniatowski Park (a new, two-lane road ran from the palace gates to steps leading off in three directions). It soon changed the city’s theatrical scene, staging its first show that December – but its troupe and repertoire only stabilised by September 1939.
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'Stanislaw Przybyszewski' by Edvard Munch, 1895, Oslo, Munch-Museet, photo: AKG / East News
Between the wars, Białystok encouraged theatre’s romance with literature, and the ideal backdrop was the Palace, of course. Celebrating his 30th year of writing in 1922, Stanisław Przybyszewski paid two visits to the city on the Biała River. His January lecture ‘On the Naked Soul’ drew ‘a multitude of intellectuals listening excitedly to the master’. A lecture on art was also due to be held at the theatre in June, but the venue was changed at the last moment. Sadly, the smaller Białystok city hall assembly room was still quite empty – only 54 people came.
Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński also gave a reading in Białystok, clearly undeterred by his rival’s terrible turnout (Boy was in love with Przybyszewski’s wife). At the Palace Theatre, a crowd of Białystokers listened in admiration as the visitor described how he became a writer, and they roared with laughter during Słówka (Little Words).
Tuwim was not as lucky, however. A large audience was expected for this meeting with a Skamander poet, so ticket prices were raised – the cheapest were 70gr, when the Palace’s events usually cost around 20gr to 25gr. Meanwhile, the best seats ‘to see Tuwim’ were selling for as much as 4zł. The day before the poet was due to appear, the organisers were assuring people the event was popular, but the audience barely numbered 30 guests. Białystokers had preferred to listen to the Warsaw operetta artists performing at the same time in the Apollo Cinema. Tuwim did draw the crowds seven years later, though, in 1935.
The rebellious Białystok poetess Rena Ruszczewska loved the theatre. She learned elocution from Juliusz Osterwa, posed for Dederko, and made her Palace Theatre debut as author of the play Zawrotne Drogi (Dizzying Roads), in which she also starred. She and her mother were members of the Polish Women’s Circle, which provided aid for the troops. Largely forgotten today, she was once acclaimed by critics and readers alike.
Lechowski mentions two Białystok libraries that boasted impressive collections, considering the times. Opened in 1920, the Municipal Public Library already had three branches by late 1936, as well as 20 library outlets, used mostly by schoolchildren. At the library named after the celebrated Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem (the musical Fiddler on the Roof was based on his novel Tevye the Dairyman), one could borrow books not only in Hebrew, Yiddish and Polish, but also German, French, English, Russian and Esperanto. In 1934, the Municipal had 1,600 regular readers, while the Jewish library had 1,800 readers – who took out more than twice as many books.
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Branicki Palace in Białystok, external view, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)
Despite Białystok never having a museum of art between the wars, exhibitions did take place. The most prestigious were at the Branicki Palace, while the rest took place in schools, cafés, cinemas, or the Municipal Gardens pavilion. Józef Jan Zimmerman was commissioned as art director to celebrate the return of the Polish soldiers in February 1919, when the German troops left the city. That year, there was an exhibition and auction of Jewish art.
The 1920s saw presentations of works by artists from Warsaw, Vilnius, Kraków and Lviv, but the next decade belonged to Białystok artists. Zimmerman was joined by Oskar Rozanecki, Czesław Sadowski, Ichiel Tynowicki and others. The latter two created the Białystok artists’ group Forma-Farba-Faktura (Form-Paint-Texture), together with Michał Duniec, Nachum Edelman and Bencjon Rabinowicz.
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Portrait of Alfons Karny, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)
Alfons Karny was an extraordinary character amongst artists from the borderlands. Initially, he drew graphic art for local newspapers and was Marian Dederko’s protégé. When the latter moved away, Karny took a job at the state police headquarters, but he was not destined for a career in law enforcement. In 1923, he moved to Warsaw and took up art studies a year later. The Białystok sculptor soon became famous nationwide, as well as in Moscow, Venice, London and Paris. As his graduation piece, he fashioned a ‘bust of Marshal Piłsudski’ (according to the newspapers) – and the monumental piece was displayed in a Białystok bookshop window, much to the delight of passers-by.
Karny’s sculptures that were shown in New York in 1939 never returned to Poland. The artist’s workshop was bombed during the Invasion of Poland and, after being rebuilt, it was destroyed again in the Warsaw Uprising. His post-war pieces were reminiscent of his work from the 1930s.
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Łącz restaurant in Białystok, 1932, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)
No guidebook would be complete without a list of recommended gastronomic establishments. Before the war, it would have looked something like this:
- Akwarium, 6 Rynek Kościuszki:
Excellent Jewish cuisine; a meeting place for businessmen and lovers of dance.
The best confectioner in the city, owned by Mikołaj Murawiejski – where one can drink the famous Macedonian buza, a mildly fermented drink made of millet with added yeast, sugar, and raisins.
- Gastronomia, 2 Sienkiewicz Street:
Meals from 1zł and up.
- Łącz, 23 Rynek Kościuszki:
A kosher restaurant with hot and cold snacks.
- The Ritz (at the hotel), 2 Kiliński Street:
The most prestigious restaurant with ‘top-class cuisine’, offering ‘refined luncheons, dinners and breakfasts’, as well as daily concerts.
- Sielanka, 12 Kiliński Street:
Unmissable for visitors from the provinces, who are greeted by waiters at the door (Dionizy was captured by Bolesław Augustis, a photographer whose negatives of life in pre-war Białystok were rediscovered in 2004).
In the mid-1990s, Mimi Sheraton went in search of the tastes from the old city on the Biała River. The American culinary critic recorded recipes and recollections in a book, The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost Word. What the Jewish diasporas in Poland, New York, Paris, Buenos Aires and Israel mentioned most were the legendary onion buns, known as bialys or bialystoker kuchen.
The Turks gave the city Turkish delight – a thick, gelled fruity delicacy; the Lithuanians kindziukas – hard, matured smoked sausage; the Russians blini – pancakes made of buckwheat-and-wheat or buckwheat-and-rye flour; and the Tatars kolduny – beef or mutton dumplings boiled in broth. If one were to seek traces of the city’s multicultural past, they can be found in the cuisine – probably the only place where it hasn’t led to conflict.
In summary, Lechowski describes the story of Interwar Białystok as ‘hard to pin down’. It paid the price for being located in between Warsaw, Vilnius and Grodno, and today, it is an underrated centre, where theatres, museums and the soul of the Polish intelligentsia once thrived. Białystok probably wanted to define itself more precisely, but it just didn’t manage in time.
Originally written in Polish, Sep 2019, translated by Mark Bence, Nov 2020
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