Długa 8A

One of the most important locations in Yiddish theatre.

Michał Weichert, a lawyer, but also an avant-garde director and theatre theoretician, lived at 8a Długa Street from the mid-1930s. A figure of great merit for the history of Yiddish and Polish theatre, he founded the Young Theatre (Yung-Teater).

Originally hailing from Galicia, the Polish territory partitioned by Austria-Hungary, Weichert settled in Warsaw only in 1918, as a mature man of 28. He came to the capital after a stay in Berlin, where he studied under the supervision of the famous director Max Reinhardt, a theatre reformer.

In Warsaw, he had an intensive career as a publisher and director, as well as a pedagogue. From the early 1920s, Weichert organised experimental acting studios in the capital, the first Jewish acting schools of their kind. Their graduates formed the core of the Yung-Teater in 1932, which Weichert was director of until 1939.

One of the seats of the Yung-Teater was located nearby, at 19 Długa Street, almost opposite 26 Długa Street, another building that is part of this series of Unseen. LINK TO 01-Dluga-26

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:

• Jewish Theatre in Poland: Fragments of an Illustrious History // on Culture.pl

• Jung Jidysz // bio on Culture.pl 

• Where is Poland? // a multimedia guide about the era 1795-1918 when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned by three neighbouring empires

• 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