Product Details

• Actors: Allen Mondell
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• DVD Release Date: March 1, 1983
• Run Time: 58 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 1880898020
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,269 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

At the end of the 19th century, New York was overrun with immigrants from all countries who were living in near-poverty conditions. The Jews clustered on the Lower East Side were no exception, with many cramped into tiny apartments, their children working long days, and the food scarce. The Jewish leaders in the community were worried, so they began the Galveston Movement, in which Jews from Russia were recruited to immigrate to the new port of Galveston, Texas, where they could then relocate to the great wide-open spaces of the West. The movement didn't last long--quotas from the government curtailed immigration--but over the course of 7 years more than 10,000 Jews were brought westward.

West of Hester Street, a reenactment documentary from Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell, explores the events that led to this movement and examines the life of one man who made the journey from Russia to the Wild West. While at times the narrator documenting the movement verges on being overdramatic, the narration from Sam Jaffe, who portrays a peddler trying to earn enough to bring his family over, is both moving and informative. Using archival footage and dramatizations, this 58-minute film is engaging, and eye opening for anyone interested in learning more about the Jewish diaspora in the United States. --Jenny Brown

Product Description

Faced with poverty and death, millions of Eastern European Jews poured into America in the early 1900s. They crowded into ghettos along the Eastern seaboard.

Jewish leaders grew concerned that the U. S. government would soon close its doors to these new immigrants. They devised a plan to bring thousands of immigrants through the port of Galveston, Texas, and to settle them throughout America's heartland. This plan became known as the GALVESTON MOVEMENT. There were even some unexpected results. "I told them I was a blacksmith," said one greenhorn. "So who knew from blacksmith? I had to say something. So I became a peddler. Peddler. . .shmeddler. . .if it earned me an honest living, I'd do it."

With great warmth and humor, WEST OF HESTER STREET interweaves the dramatized events of the Galveston Movement with the story of a young Jewish peddler who journeys from Russia to Texas. The late Sam Jaffe narrates the immigrant's heart-warming story.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FAMILY LEGACY, September 10, 2001

By 

ESTHER P. RALSTON (SACRAMENTO, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West of Hester Street (DVD)

THIS FILM BROUGHT BACK MANY MEMORIES SHARED BY MY PARENTS ON THEIR VOYAGE FROM RUSSIA TO AMERICA IN THE 1900'S. THEY WERE PART OF THE IMMIGRANTS WHO LANDED IN GALVESTON, TX AND SETTLED IN HOUSTON,TX. SINCE THE MAJORITY OF EUROPEAN REFUGEES LANDED IN ELLIS ISLAND, I REALIZED HOW FORTUNATE MY PARENTS WERE TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO COME TO AMERICA VIA GALVESTON, SINCE THE TIME FRAME FOR THOSE ARRIVALS WAS SO LIMITED.THE FILM PRESENTED A VERY COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE HISTORY AND POLITICAL STRUGGLE DURING THAT ERA IN REGARD TO IMMIGRATION.