Rare Color Footage of Life in the Shtetl
See how Jews lived in Poland before the Nazis destroyed it all.
It was 1921, and 550 Jews lived in the town of Wielopole Skrzyńskie. There were a small number of Jewish-owned factories in the area.
David Teitelbaum, an amateur photographer, was born in Wielopole Skrzyńskie. He emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and became a successful businessman. Every year he went back to Poland to visit his family. The film was shot over the course of two visits, in 1938 and 1939. The second one was his last trip home.
On June 26, 1942, all the Jews of Wielopole were deported to the ghetto in Ropzcyce. A large number of sick and elderly people were murdered before even they got there.
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