Kina warszawskie: wrzesień–grudzień 1939 roku

Abstract

Karol Szymański depicts the history of the Warsaw cinemas and analyzes the cinema repertoire in the particular time from September to December 1939 (that is from the outbreak of World War II, through the defense and the siege of Warsaw, until the first months of the German occupation) taking into account a wider context of living conditions in the capital as well as a changing front and political situation. The author draws attention, among other things, to the rapid decrease in the cinema audience in the first week of September. As a consequence cinemas ceased to work, which made them unable to fulfill their informational or propaganda role and provide the inhabitants of the fighting city with the escapist or uplifting entertainment. During the siege of Warsaw some cinemas changed their functions and became a shelter for several thousand fire victims and refugees, while others were irretrievably destroyed in bombings and fires. In turn, after the capitulation and takeover of the city by the Germans, some of the most representative cinemas which survived (they were entirely expropriated by the administration of the General Government) began to gradually resume their activity from the beginning of November. By the end of 1939 there were already eight reactivated cinemas in Warsaw, including one (Helgoland, former Palladium) intended only for the Germans. These cinemas showed only German films – they were entertaining productions which were well-executed, devoid of explicit propaganda or ideological elements, with the greatest stars of the Third Reich cinema. However, December 1939 brought also the first action of the Polish resistance against German cinemas and cinema audience in Warsaw, which in the years to come developed and became an important element of the civilian fight against the occupant.