26.05.2020

Kino International in Berlin/Germany - "Die Befreiung" 1970


Another postcard from Kino International in Berlin.
The cinema advertises the movie Die Befreiung. Teil 1 - Der Feuerbogen. Teil 2 - Der Durchbruch.
Two parts of total 5 from the Soviet movie Освобождение / The Liberation about the World War II, directed by Yuri Ozerov (1969). The movie came to East German cinemas in May 1970 and was shown in 70mm in special cinemas.
The postcard was published in 1971 by Verlag Felix Setecki, Berlin. It was sent in September 1971 to a woman, she lived across the street from my current apartment ...

24.05.2020

Cinetower in Alsdorf/Germany


Alsdorf is a city in West Germany near Aachen and the border to the Netherlands.
The tower was a water tower in Alsdorf, built around 1910 for the waterworks with a capacity of 1000 m³ on a brick shaft. In addition to its value as an architectural monument to the city of Alsdorf, the tower also has a symbolic character for the city and especially for the Cinema Center.
In 1997 the historic water tower got a new interior. The Alsdorf cinema family Stürtz, which has been writing cinema history for Alsdorf since the 1930s, developed the idea of building a completely new kind of cinema and leisure experience space at the same location or in the immediate vicinity. A few meters from the existing cinemas in Rathausstrasse, the old water tower in the middle of Alsdorf, offered itself as an ideal area for the realization of such a project.
Today they have two cinema locations in immediate vicinity: In the Rathausstrasse the KINOPARK with Thalia, Atrium, Gloria and Forum and in the Hubertusstrasse the CINETOWER with the halls Tower 5-9.
The postcard was published by Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, the photo was taken by Clemens Kisselbach.

23.05.2020

Petar Velev in Peshtera/Bulgaria

Who was Petar Velev? I found another postcard with a Monument of Petar Velev in Peshtera. As known from the Bulgarian Wikipedia, he was a member of the communist Batak partisan detachment during the partisan movement in Bulgaria (1941 - 1944). Died in 1944.
The postcard is from 1975, Maybe, the cinema opened just before.
There are (or were) plans for a museum of socialist cars in the large hall of the empty cinema. 
At all, Bulgarian films are very unknown. I only remeber watching Tilt in 2013, a film about youth in Bulgaria in the early 1990s. I liked it.

Spartaks in Riga/Latvia

This postcard with the cinema Spartaks in Riga is a bit strange. Nothing looks like a cinema. But on the backyard is written: Latvijas PSR. Rīga, Kinoteātris 'Spartaks'.
The cinema was built next to the cinema Rīga / Splendid Palace and opened in 1969. Documentaries were mainly shown there without interruption.
Today the building is part of Splendid Palace, the second smaller hall.

19.05.2020

Capitol in Wałbrzych/Poland


Wałbrzych is a city in the Polish Lower Silesian Voivodeship near the Czech border. Until the early 1990s, it was the center of the Lower Silesian coalfield. The city has had the Polish name Wałbrzych since 1945, former it was the German Waldenburg.
The cinema Capitol was built in a modernist style by the architect Ludwig Moshamer. The opening took place on December 28, 1928. 

After the war, it was the Mining House of Culture of the Thorez Mine. (I went to Maurice Thorez school in Leipzig...).
There are plans for a reconstruction and using again as a House of Culture.
Here I found many pictures of the cinema building.
The postcard is from a postcard calendar from 1980 Waldenburger Bergland.

14.05.2020

Kosmoss in Riga/Latvia


"The new widescreen filmtheater Kosmos" is written on the 1962 published postcard.
The cinema was on Pētersalas ielā 18a, near the harbor. Today there is a shop at this address.

03.05.2020

Kino in Benešov nad Ploučnicí/Czech Republic

Stadt-Bensner-Lichtspiele is written on the postcard. Bensen is today Benešov nad Ploučnicí, a town in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic.
The cinema was built in 1927 and was reconstructed several times. Today it is used as the municipal cultural center. It has a deep stage that also offers space for larger theater or music ensembles as well as balls, exhibitions and competitions.

02.05.2020

Colosseum in Berlin/Germany

The Colosseum in the city of Berlin is a cinema since nearly 100 years. Originally, it was built as a wagon hall in 1984 and was used as a horse and bus depot until the end of the First World War.
The conversion to the cinema was carried out by Fritz Wilms in the early 1920s based on a preliminary planning by Max Bischoff. On September 12, 1924, the film theater opened. It had 1000 seats for visitors, who, in addition to silent film performances, could also experience variety events with orchestral accompaniment.
After renovations by the architect Karl-August Borchardt, the cinema openes on May 2, 1957 with the film Mazurka der Liebe (Hans Müller, GDR 1957). It was the first DEFA film in Totalvision (the East German equivalent of CinemaScope ) and the Colosseum was now a special place for showing these films.
The Colosseum has been the premiere cinema of East Berlin untill Kosmos and Kino International opened.
From May 1996 till December 1997, the cinema was new constructed to a multiplex cinema by the architects Thies Jentz and Peter Wiesner from the Hamburg architects me di um. The house was converted into a multiplex by nine other halls. But the 50s design of Hall 1 and the original foyer on Schönhauser Allee were also renovated.
The postcard was published in 1957. Cinema advertised the film 4 Herzen in Rom / Roman Tales / Racconti Romani (Gianni Franciolini, Italy 1955).

01.05.2020

Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig/Germany

A building full of history of entertainment in an urban area outside the center.
Its history started in 1876, when it was built as a social hall for dance events. Films were shown here as early as 1906. In 1913, regular film showing began by the cinema owner Joseph Fey. There was one hall with 800 seats. After 1945 the name was changing from Schloss Lindenfels to Lichtspiele Lindenfels. It was used as a cinema untill 1987, when the heating system was broken.
An interesting fact is that cinema operators have been trained in this cinema.
In 1994, the building was reopened for theater and cinema with two halls, now called Schaubühne Lindenfels.
The photo was taken by Olaf Weißhuhn.

Cinema in Piennes/France

I saw 1917 and They shall not grown old and Un long dimanche de fiançailles in the cinema. This postcard reminds me of these films. 

Piennes is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France, about 40 km northeast of Verdun. The cinema was used by German army, later it was a hospital during the war. I don't know if it was used as a cinema before and after the war. The building is still standing (look at this interesting website www.morthomme.com.)

The postcard was sent in October 1916 by military mail from France to Germany. Arthur wrote to his wife Frieda in Chemnitz. Among other things, he asked her sending him the shaving kit. He didn't write anything about a hospital or a cinema.

Feldpostkarte von Arthur Fischer an Frieda Fischer in Chemnitz 1916

The address book for Chemnitz 1915 finds a baker Mr. A. M. Fischer on Münchner Strasse 10.  And also the 1920 address book. And there's still a bakery today at this address.