Abraham Icek Tuschinski

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abraham Icek Tuschinski (Brzezin (near Łódź), May 14, 1886 - Auschwitz, September 17, 1942) was a Dutch businessman of Jewish-Polish descent who built the Tuschinski Theater, a famed cinema in Amsterdam.

While emigrating to the United States in 1903 Tuschinski decided to remain in Rotterdam. He found success as a movie theatre owner, opening his first four cinemas in 1911: the Thalia, Cinema Royal, Scala and Olympia. His most luxurious cinema in Rotterdam, the Grand Theater, opened in 1928.

His crowning achievement, the Tuschinski Theater, opened its doors in Amsterdam on October 28, 1921. The unique design of this building was a mix of three modern styles: Amsterdamse School, Art Deco and Jugendstil. The elaborate exterior and opulent, richly decorated interior were restored to their former glory in 1998-2002. Tuschinksy also opened another famed Amsterdam cinema, the Roxy Theater, in 1928.

When World War II broke out, Tuschinski lost all his cinemas in Rotterdam when the city was bombed by the Germans on May 14, 1940. On July 1, 1942, he was transported to the Westerbork concentration camp in the northeast of the Netherlands, and from there to Auschwitz, where he was killed.