The Tuschinski theatre in Amsterdam has a lot to celebrate this year. Not only does it turn 100 years old in October, it was also crowned the most beautiful cinema in the world last week by the much-read Time Out magazine, which praised the building as an “elegant mash-up of art deco and art nouveau styles with sleek modernist touches”. The Tuschinski, which is nowadays owned by Pathé, was built by the Polish Jewish entrepreneur Abraham Icek Tuschinski (Tuszyński, 1886-1942), who was born in Brzeziny, near Łódź. He first came to Rotterdam in 1904, intent on travelling to the United States. He settled in the Netherlands, however, where he started a range a successful businesses, including four cinemas in Rotterdam,  established in 1911. Ten years later, the Tuschinski theatre opened its doors in Amsterdam, having cost around four million guilders. During the Second World War, the theatre was taken over by the Germans, who renamed it Tivoli. Abraham Tuschinski himself was captured and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was murdered in 1942. His famous theatre, which has been renovated several times, once again carries his name. To this day, it continues to amaze audiences with its characteristic façade and fairy-tale-like interior.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 10.