City of Birobidzhan. Cinema “Birobidzhan”. 1938
Photo: State Archive of the Jewish Autonomous Region
November 7, 1937
On this day the opening of the Birobidzhan cinema took place.
The question “About cinema” was repeatedly heard at meetings of the organizing bureau of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of the Jewish Autonomous Okrug of the Far East. Thus, in October 1934, the cost of film equipment was determined, and measures were planned to service the region with film mobiles. It was decided to equip a sound film installation in the building of the city theater and put it into operation no later than November 7, 1934.
In 1935, the presidium of the regional executive committee of the Jewish Autonomous Region adopted a resolution “On the project of a cinema in the workers’ village of Birobidzhan.” Engineer P.E. Appak made significant changes to the original project drawn up by Dalprogor. According to his sketch, they decided to make the external appearance of the building more elegant by using sculptural decorations and bas-reliefs. The project presented by Appak was approved by a resolution of the Presidium of the Regional Executive Committee of the Jewish Autonomous Region dated October 16, 1935.
The opening date of the Birobidzhan city cinema was a holiday – November 7, 1937. Initially, the cinema was called “Birobidzhan” and was one of the first two-screen cinemas in the country. It was called a “two-hall sound film theater.” In those years, about twenty people worked in the cinema, including a full-time musical orchestra, and then, in the late thirties, not many cinema institutions could boast of their own orchestra.
November 7, 1935
The newspaper “Birobidzhan Star” (12+) on November 7, 1935 wrote about the work of a consumer goods factory:
“The artels of the Kuspromsoyuz of the Jewish Autonomous Region have already become known as suppliers of a number of types of consumer goods for the entire region. Thus, soap, candles, ink, shoe polish, etc., manufactured in the Ev.A.O. are sold in Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and other cities of the Far East.”
Day in the history of the Jewish Autonomous Region. Photo: Photo: Regional Library
The article also talks about new types of goods produced by artels: “…I recently released a batch of putty for sale. Earth paints are produced – ocher and mumite. Artel “Your Work” opened a new glove shop. The first batch of high-quality leather gloves went on sale“.
The article “Our Michurintsy” talks about the development of gardening in the Jewish Autonomous Regionhow many and which collective farms have plantings of fruit and berry crops, tells about the organization of a fruit and berry nursery in the region in 1936. The article writes:
“The soil and climatic conditions of the Jewish Autonomous Region make it possible to develop orchards and plant them with a wide variety of species and varieties. In the first years of the development of horticulture in our region, the leading role should belong to berry growers, as they will most quickly solve the problem of supplying workers with fresh berries. At the same time, our region should be a zone of plum and pear production. Plums are the most developed crop of the Far East region, with a rich assortment and frost resistance. There is and cultivated varieties of pears – good in taste and frost-resistant.”
