Metadata: Collection of Films
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts kinofotofonodokumentu arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Šmerļa iela 5, Rīga, 1006
- Phone number:
- +371 2952 7693
- Web address:
- http://www.redzidzirdilatviju.lv/en/search
- Email:
- lvkffda@arhivi.gov.lv
- Title:
- Collection of Films
- Title (official language):
- Filmu kolekcija
- Creator/accumulator:
- Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents
- Date(s):
- 1910/2021
- Date note:
- From 1910 to the present day
- Language:
- Latvian
- English
- Russian
- German
- Extent:
- about 28,000 films
- Type of material:
- Moving images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection includes films depicting the life of Latvian Jews. Searching for the word "Jew" in Latvian in the Archive database (most of the films are in the list of the site, but not the entire collection) results in a list of 49 films.
The oldest film is a 1941 German newsreel "Die Deutsche Wochenschau", showing Jews as victims of the Red Terror. In Leonid Brushtein's newsreel "Soviet Latvia" # 1/2 from 1989, about the founding of cultural societies in Latvia, the well-known public figure Mavrik Wulfson talks about the Latvian Jewish community. Brushtein's next newsreel # 14/15 from 1990 "Latvian Chronicle" is devoted to items of Jewish interest: the unveiling of a memorial stone on the site of the former Great Choral Synagogue on 4 July 1989; footage from Rumbula - where more than 25 thousand Jews were shot; the streets of the Riga ghetto, the old Jewish cemetery; the unveiling of the monument to Zhanis Lipke, who saved 56 Jews from the Nazis, a conversation with his wife Johanna; visiting Abram and Shelley Shpungin in Israel; and the Alley of the Righteous Among the Nations in Yad Vashem.
Among the films in the collection are: the documentary “Intrasient” about the history of the Jewish community in Latvia; the documentary "And There is Hope Again" (1992) about Jewish culture in Latvia; the documentary "Rescuers and Survivors" (2000), dedicated to Zhanis Lipke; a TV show by the Russian Jewish journalist Alexander Stupnikov "Latvia and Latvian Jews" (2001); documentary materials of the conference "Jews in a Changing World" (2001); video materials of the President of Latvia for different years, including meetings of the Latvian leadership with Jewish religious, political and public figures from Latvia and other countries, events dedicated to memorable dates and events of the Jewish community of Latvia, etc.; the 12th episode of the television program "Latvia. The Times of Ulmanis" (2002), which, among other events in 1937-1938, deals with "Kristallnacht" in Germany; the documentary film "The Incineration of Victims" (2005) about the Holocaust in Latvia; the documentary film "Controversial History" (2010) about the events of the Second World War, told from three points of view - Latvians, Russians and Jews; two television programs "Laboratory of Lies" (2013) about the Second World War and the leaders of Latvia in the 20th century, in which Margers Vestermanis, a historian and head of the "Jews in Latvia" museum, participates; Latvian feature film “The Mover” (2018) about Zhanis Lipke, etc.
The Archive also contains films from different countries and filmmakers, for example, from the BBC collection “Primo Levi: The Memory of the Offence”, “The Music of Terezin”, “The Nazis: a Warning from History”, etc. In addition, a search in the Archive collection by last name yields many films in which Jews took part in the production, as well as films depicting famous Jews in Latvia, such as the chess player Mikhail Tal, musicians Herman Braun and Gidon Kremer, singer Inessa Galante and others.
- Archival history:
-
The Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents is one of the largest preservers of the cultural and historical heritage of Latvia. It contains unique and comprehensive documents revealing the life of Latvia in audiovisual material (film and video), photographs and audio records. The mission of the archive is to collect, preserve and disseminate visual evidence regarding Latvia to all interested patrons. The Archive has created a new multimedia website: See, Hear Latvia! (Redzi, dzirdi Latviju!) (www.redzidzirdilatviju.lv) where it is possible to search and obtain information from the Archives’ collection about audiovisual material, photos and audio records from the 1850s to the present.
The films section, which was created first and has been available since July 2016, features information about newsreels, feature films, documentaries, animations, popular science films, advertisement films, recordings and films of other genres, created both by audiovisual professionals and amateurs from 1910 to the present. Currently the website has published video files from newsreels and film recordings, created between 1910 and 1959. Some films can be viewed on the portal www.filmas.lv, with which the site has been linked.
- Access points: locations:
- Latvia
- Access points: persons/families:
- Lipke, Zhanis
- Vestermanis, Margers
- Wulfson, Mavrik
- Access, restrictions:
- The list of films of the archive is constantly updated on the site, however, most of the Jewish related films are not available for online viewing due to copyright restrictions. Films not available on the website can be accessed in the archive
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Jana Makarova, Riga