Długa 26

One of the most renowned addresses of pre-war Jewish Warsaw. 

Długa 26 housed the socialist Bund party headquarters from 1936 onwards, as well as the capital’s first school with Yiddish as the language of instruction. Other political organisations based here included the Masada Zionist youth union.

Alter Kacyzne had his professional photography studio in one of the three courtyards the building had before the war. Born in Vilnius, he came to Warsaw in 1910. Kacyzne was a writer, journalist and publisher, as well as co-author of the screenplay for The Dybbuk, perhaps the best-known and most celebrated film in Yiddish produced in Interwar Poland.

However, he was probably best-known for being a much sought-after photographer. Apart from taking snapshots of Warsaw’s bohemian scene, he also documented the everyday life and the poverty of Jewish shtetls in Interwar Poland and beyond, sending his photos to New York to be published in ‘The Forward’, or ‘Forverts’, the long-running Yiddish newspaper.

Israel Joshua Singer, the older brother of writer and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, also worked at Kacyzne’s workshop for while, and they co-founded a literary journal together which was published up until 1939.

How to listen:

Unseen is available as a downloadable podcast, although it is best experienced through the Echoes geolocative storytelling app available for iOS and Android. After loading the app, search for soundwalks in Warsaw and you’ll find Unseen.

Further reading:

• Sto Lat, ‘Dybbuk’! Celebrating & Commemorating the Classic Yiddish Play – Online // on Culture.pl

• Possession: 100 Years of ‘The Dybbuk’ // on Culture.pl

• Alter Kacyzne // bio on Wikipedia.org

• Isaac Bashevis Singer // bio on Culture.pl

• 8 Remarkable Yiddish Books from Poland // on Culture.pl

• From ‘Last Sunday’ to ‘Last Shabbos’: Poland’s Legendary Jewish Tangos// on Culture.pl 

• The Lost World of Yiddish Films in Poland // on Culture.pl

• The Rise & Fall of Polish Song // on Culture.pl