Welcoming the President in Krosno
In Krosno in 1929, a white-bearded rebbe stands in the street with a sefer Torah as the town welcomes the president.
From Shimon Mahler’s home movie of Krosno, 1929. Film courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
PREZYDENCIE
On 22 July 1929 Krosno is out for the president of Poland, Ignacy Mościcki. Shimon Mahler is in the street with a home-movie camera. Over the crowd, the arch still reads PREZYDENCIE (“President”).
A white-bearded rebbe stands among them with a sefer Torah against his chest. The silver crown catches the light. His name is not on the film. If you know him, leave a comment.
The paper five days later
On 27 July, Kraków’s Jewish daily Nowy Dziennik prints “P. Prezydent w Krośnie” (“Mr. President in Krosno”). Mościcki came along Lwów Street. The mayor spoke. Priests stood with him, and a local rabbi for the Jewish community.
Rabbi Fuhrer and Reb Moshe Twerski
Krosno’s memorial book, Sefer Krosno, remembers the rav and the rebbe of those years. Rabbi Shmuel Ozon Fuhrer was the rav. This portrait of him was received on 9 July 1939 in Truskawiec (today Truskavets, Ukraine).
Reb Moshe Twerski was the rebbe. His father, Reb Aaron Twerski, had led the chassidim until late 1920, and Reb Moshe Twerski followed him.
Another photograph from the welcome shows a white-bearded rebbe with a crowned Torah, and Mościcki in front of him. Krosno’s news site Krosno24 calls him Rabbi Shmuel Ozon Fuhrer. The face looks like somebody else.
Timeline
- 22 July 1929
- President Ignacy Mościcki comes through Krosno. Shimon Mahler films a white-bearded rebbe with a sefer Torah.
- 27 July 1929
- Kraków’s Jewish daily Nowy Dziennik prints the report of the visit.
- 9 July 1939
- A street portrait of Rabbi Shmuel Ozon Fuhrer is received in Truskawiec (today Truskavets, Ukraine).
- 2008
- Warren Blumenfeld gives the Mahler film to the Podkarpackie Museum in Krosno.