Kina warszawskie: wrzesień–grudzień 1939 roku
Warsaw Cinemas: September–December 1939

Summary/Abstract: Karol Szymański depicts the history of the Warsaw cinemas and analyzes the cinemarepertoire in the particular time from September to December 1939 (that is from the outbreakof World War II, through the defense and the siege of Warsaw, until the first months of theGerman occupation) taking into account a wider context of living conditions in the capitalas well as a changing front and political situation. The author draws attention, among otherthings, to the rapid decrease in the cinema audience in the first week of September. Asa consequence cinemas ceased to work, which made them unable to fulfill their informationalor propaganda role and provide the inhabitants of the fighting city with the escapist oruplifting entertainment. During the siege of Warsaw some cinemas changed their functionsand became a shelter for several thousand fire victims and refugees, while others wereirretrievably destroyed in bombings and fires. In turn, after the capitulation and takeover ofthe city by the Germans, some of the most representative cinemas which survived (they wereentirely expropriated by the administration of the General Government) began to graduallyresume their activity from the beginning of November. By the end of 1939 there werealready eight reactivated cinemas in Warsaw, including one (Helgoland, former Palladium)intended only for the Germans. These cinemas showed only German films – they wereentertaining productions which were well-executed, devoid of explicit propaganda orideological elements, with the greatest stars of the Third Reich cinema. However, December1939 brought also the first action of the Polish resistance against German cinemas and cinemaaudience in Warsaw, which in the years to come developed and became an important elementof the civilian fight against the occupant.

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