Tulip Bulbs War Food Holland 1944-1945

Tulip Bulbs War Food Holland 1944-1945 (silent film) ~
My mother did not tell me much and no details on her experiences in World War 2, except for the Hongerwinter (“Hunger winter”) – the Dutch famine of 1944–45 – that she had to eat tulip bulbs.
The famine was caused by a German blockade plus the harsh winter blocking alternative water routes, that cut off food and fuel shipments to the western Netherlands were food stocks rapidly ran out in the large cities of The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. Tulip bulbs and sugar beets were commonly consumed.
March 25 this year I posted a more detailed ‘biography’ and the silent film ‘Eating Tulip Bulbs’ (20200325) a silent film using photographs captured during this ‘Hunger winter’ 1944-1945 by Menno Huizinga in Holland (mainly in The Hague).
Today I found this Dutch cinema news reel from Polygoon-Profilti published March 1945 with an impression of the daily food ration for the starving population of Holland at the end of the hunger winter. One sees the preparation of tulip bulbs, sugar beets, peas and cabbage soup. Also the use of an emergency stove. Courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).
Tulip Bulbs War Food Holland 1944-1945 | 20201226 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com

Updates

20220604 – Changes credit line

Breaking News – Polygoon sound film David Hamburger 1931


Like in Hollywood , the Jewish Dutch are prominent in the Dutch film world before World War II – during the interbellum.
The three top players in the Dutch film industry also share that Jewish background – Abraham Tuschinski (Ref. 1, 2), Loet C. Barnstijn (Ref. 3) and David Hamburger Jr.

Here a speech by David Hamburger jr., chairman of the Nederlandsche Bioscoopbond (NBB) (Dutch Union of Cinema Proprietors), a film published May 17, 1931 (commissioned by Polygoon / courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision – Open Images) on the upcoming Polygoon cinema newsreels with sound that will soon replace the silent newsreels of Polygoons Hollands Nieuws (Dutch News).

References

1. Michel van der Burg. 2017 Jul 24. Turn .. “Draaien” .. Filmland 1934. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nnk
2. Michel van der Burg. 2017 Nov 25. Lon’s World Premiere. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nhx
3. Michel van der Burg. 2019 Aug 24. Hollywood in Holland – Barnstijn’s FILMSTAD Opening 1935. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nng

① memo 20190826 ~ Breaking News – Polygoon sound film David Hamburger 1931

Nobody No Longer Nobody – ID Card Propaganda 1940


Cinema propaganda newsreel (Polygoon) September 1940 on a rush for portrait photos needed for the ‘Persoonsbewijs’ , the ID card.
After the German invasion in 1940 the Dutch aged 15 and older were required to carry identity cards (called ‘persoonsbewijs’). This later led to the death of many people.

Polygoons Hollands Nieuws newsreel courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).

① memo 20190825 ~ Nobody No Longer Nobody – ID Card Propaganda 1940

Hollywood in Holland – Barnstijn’s FILMSTAD Opening 1935


Film City “Filmstad Wassenaar” – his film studio complex in Wassenaar near The Hague – is opened in 1935 by the dutch jewish cinema operator , film distributor and producer Loet C. Barnstijn (born in 1880 as Lodewijk Cohen) starting you might say a Hollywood in Holland. After first working in textiles, he sold his business to start in the film business as a cinema operator. He was a film distributor , an inventor with Philips of a synchronized sound system using records .. the Loetafoon, and introduced the sound film in Holland in the early 1930s. During the war Filmstad was confiscated, and became UFA Filmstadt Den Haag. The allies bombed the complex in 1944. After the war Barnstijn lived in the USA were he died in 1953.
Cinema newsreel, October 1935, from Polygoon courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).

Sound (speeches) starts after arrival of the guests at 3 min 20 sec.

Yesterday I posted on his first production the artistic documentary “Sjabbos“.

① memo 20190824 ~ Hollywood in Holland – Barnstijn’s FILMSTAD

Mokum Market ~ Amsterdam Jewish Quarter 1931 (update)


① memo 20190815 ~ Mokum Market ~ Amsterdam Jewish Quarter 1931 ~ New version of yesterday’s (20190814) film – slowed to 75%*. Sunday outdoor market in the ‘Nieuwe Uylenburgerstraat’ street in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam (Mokum). Dutch Polygoon cinema newsreel 25 January 1931. The market on the Uilenburgerstraat specialized in second-hand goods fish, and other food products, including the ever-popular ‘Jewish pickles’. The Depression in the 1930s led to unemployment in many trades, including the diamond industry, where many Jews had worked. As a consequence, the number of market vendors and peddlers increased in the 1930s. In September 1941 the Nazis prohibited Jews from trading at public markets. Special markets where only Jews were allowed to trade opened nearby. Very few Jewish market and street vendors survived the war. The Uilenburgerstraat market never reopened (info source https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/671/jewish-market-and-street-vendors-in-amsterdam ). Footage thanks to Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).

* Note – Yesterday’s film (Mokum Market version 20190814) seems sped up – probably because of a wrong play speed when scanned for digitalisation). Thus , I post this new version today, sloweddown to 75% speed at play back – based subjectively on how motion of people looks , and based on other writings that silent films are often distributed with instructions for the projectionist to be run at 18fps , rather then the modern 24 frames per second – thus requiring a 18/24 = 75% fps.

Mokum Market ~ Amsterdam Jewish Quarter 1931


Sunday outdoor market in the ‘Nieuwe Uylenburgerstraat’ street in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam (Mokum). Dutch Polygoon cinema newsreel 25 January 1931. The market on the Uilenburgerstraat specialized in second-hand goods fish, and other food products, including the ever-popular ‘Jewish pickles’. The Depression in the 1930s led to unemployment in many trades, including the diamond industry, where many Jews had worked. As a consequence, the number of market vendors and peddlers increased in the 1930s. In September 1941 the Nazis prohibited Jews from trading at public markets. Special markets where only Jews were allowed to trade opened nearby. Very few Jewish market and street vendors survived the war. The Uilenburgerstraat market never reopened (info source https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/671/jewish-market-and-street-vendors-in-amsterdam ). Footage thanks to Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).
① memo 20190814 ~ Mokum Market .

Update 20190815

Film playback seems sped up. Thus , I posted a new version the next day, slowed-down to 75% speed at play back – see post 20190815.

Blackface


One of Al Jolson’s blackface acts performed by the dutch variety show artist Heintje Davids as shown in dutch movie theaters in 1930 in the ‘Polygoon’ cinema news.
The blackfaced Al Jolson starred in the very first feature length ‘talkie’ (sound film) The Jazz Singer in 1927 – with synchronized recorded music, singing and speech.
In France , right after the liberation, Robert Clary was known as L’Al Jolson français.
Footage thanks to the Open Images (openbeelden.nl). audiovisual archive of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. ① memo 20181205 ~ Blackface