Reb Pinyele Ostiler in Lwów, 1929

Galician Jewry · Lwów, November 1929

Reb Pinyele Ostiler in Lwów, 1929

Published August 26, 2026

On the steps of Lwów’s main railway station, a Rebbe in a kolpik stands with chassidim.

Honon Katz, 1929. Silent 16mm. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of Dita Sperling. Jump: Kovno, Riga, Lwów, The rabbi.

On the steps

At about 8:52 in Honon Katz’s 1929 amateur reel, chassidim stand on the steps of Lwów’s main railway station, and a man in a kolpik stands with them. The face is believed to be Reb Pinyele Ostiler, Rabbi Pinchas Twersky of Ustilug, matched to a known photograph.

The man on those stairs was the son of Reb Mordechai of Rachmastrivka and son-in-law of the Belzer Rebbe, Reb Yissachar Dov Rokeach. He became rabbi of Ustilug in 1926, then of Przemyśl in 1932.

Known photograph of Reb Pinyele Ostiler walking with two men holding his arms, in a fur hat and dark coat — A known photograph of Reb Pinyele Ostiler, walking with two men holding his arms.

Chasidim in long coats and hats descending the stone steps of Lwów’s main railway station, 1929 — Chasidim on the steps of Lwów’s main railway station, in Honon Katz’s 1929 reel.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum catalog lists that gathering as Agudas Yisroel (Agudath Israel). That is a mistake. The steps are Lwów Główny, the city’s main railway station (Dworzec Główny).

Chasidim gathered on the stone steps of Lwów’s main railway station in Honon Katz’s 1929 reel — The city-side steps in Honon Katz’s 1929 reel.

The city-side steps and doors of Lwów’s main railway station today — The city-side steps of Lwów’s main railway station today.

The Cossack’s Love

What dates those street shots is a poster in the same reel. Katz filmed Kovno and Riga, then Lwów while tending his father’s bicycle business, and a kiosk there reads MIŁOŚĆ KOZAKA (The Cossack’s Love). On 30 November 1929, Lwów’s daily newspaper Wiek Nowy advertised “dziś premiera” (“today’s premiere”) of the film Miłość Kozaka at the Fatamorgana cinema, at 10 Mariacki Square (printed as pl. Marjacki 10). The street shots, and with them the station steps, were taken around that premiere.

Masthead of Wiek Nowy, Saturday 30 November 1929, published in Lwów — Lwów’s daily newspaper *Wiek Nowy*, Saturday 30 November 1929.

Lwów daily Wiek Nowy cinema advertisement: DZIŚ PREMIERA (today’s premiere) of Miłość Kozaka at the Fatamorgana cinema, 10 Mariacki Square — Lwów’s daily newspaper *Wiek Nowy*, 30 November 1929: “dziś premiera” (“today’s premiere”) of *Miłość Kozaka* at the Fatamorgana cinema, 10 Mariacki Square.

Lwów Główny

Lwów Główny, the main railway station (Dworzec Główny)
1 Dworcowy Square (pl. Dworcowy 1), Lwów (today Dvirtseva Square, Lviv)
49.8401, 23.9950

Street View of the city-side steps today. Open in Google Maps.

The film and what followed

Katz left Berlin for France in 1932. When the war began he left the reel in his Paris apartment. Dita Sperling, who had survived the Kovno ghetto, Šančiai, and Stutthof, took it in 1973 and gave it to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995.

Reb Pinyele fled to Sambor in 1939 and was murdered at Bełżec in May 1943. The family was murdered at Sambor. Daughter Trani, wife of the Skverer Rebbe Reb Yaakov Yosef Twersky, survived.

Timeline

1880: Reb Pinchas Twersky is born.
1900: He marries Chana Rochel, daughter of the Belzer Rebbe Reb Yissachar Dov Rokeach, in Belz.
30 November 1929: Lwów’s daily newspaper Wiek Nowy advertises today’s premiere of the film Miłość Kozaka (The Cossack’s Love) at the Fatamorgana cinema. Katz’s street shots were taken around that date.
1932: He becomes rabbi of Przemyśl. Katz leaves Berlin for France.
May 1943: He is murdered at Bełżec. The family is murdered at Sambor. Daughter Trani survives.
1973, 1995: Dita Sperling recovers the reel in Paris and donates it to the museum.