Loading Events

Alicia Svigals
(Photo: Thierry Arsenault)

Silent film with live original music by klezmer fiddler Alicia Svigals and pianist Donald Sosin.

The City Without Jews is one of few surviving Austrian Expressionist films, and the magnum opus of the great director H.K. Breslauer. Filmed in 1924, it can be seen as a chilling premonition of the Holocaust—the premise is the political rise of the Christian Social Party, which orders all Jews to evacuate Austria. In the ensuing months, the sober reality of a society without Jews sets in, as cultural institutions close and cafes are replaced with beer halls. Eventually, the economy declines and unemployment runs rampant. Based on the dystopian book by Hugo Bettauer and intended originally as political satire, it became the subject of controversy and censorship, especially in conjunction with the rise of Nazism. Featuring an original live score by violinist Alicia Svigals and pianist Donald Sosin, including a performance by Svigals on one of the instruments from the Violins of Hope collection.

The silent film is 91 minutes with English intertitles.

Following the screening, in the Atrium, violin-maker and restorer of the Violins of Hope Avshalom Weinstein will be available to answer questions, and will have three instruments from the collection on display.  

General Admission  $20
Members get 10% off


Our Sponsors

  • Hewlett 50 Arts Comissions
  • Walter & Elise Haas Fund
  • National Endowment for the Arts
  • The Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation
  • San Mateo County Arts Grants Program
  • Y&H Soda Foundation
  • American Legion
  • Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
  • Carlstrom Productions
  • Fleishhacker Foundation
  • Hellman Foundation
  • Mercy
  • Kohl Mansion
  • Shenson Foundation
  • The Jewish News
  • Bella Charitable Foundation
  • Kessinger Family Foundation
  • San Mateo Daily Journal

Go to Top