A few years before the outbreak of World War II, in 1933, film actress Nora Ney was named "Queen of the Screen" in a Polish audience poll published in "Kino" magazine, taking the title from Jadwiga Smosarska herself. In the context of the mid-30s, it's interesting that this status was achieved by a beautiful and talented woman of Jewish descent from the Białystok area. She died 20 years ago in the USA. Grzegorz Rogowski recalled her forgotten figure in his book "Sentenced to Oblivion ."
Born Sonia Nejman, she never appeared in a film under her real name. She consciously collaborated with the press to create an image of herself as both sensual and deeply mysterious. She was even called the "Polish Greta Garbo." She confuses the tropes when recounting her acting beginnings, giving different dates and places of birth. This was very common among 20th-century film actresses. But in her case, it wasn't about artificially rejuvenating herself, but above all, concealing her Jewish heritage, which was not an asset in pre-war cinema. At that time, no international or Polish film star was of Jewish descent, which should be considered a very grim sign of the times...
Nora Ney was born in 1906 or 1908. She likely came from the town of Wasilków , although she herself mentioned the village of Sielechowskie . Both of these locations correspond to the Białystok area. Her father, Jakub Nejman, was a wealthy Jewish businessman. Her mother died giving birth to her. She had three older siblings and a poor relationship with her stepmother , Estera Walter , who favored her daughter Lidia —who, incidentally, was sent to school in Switzerland, reflecting the family's wealth.
The family's stay in Baku , where her father successfully traded timber, was crucial. It was also there that Sonja discovered her destiny: " One day, my father took me to the cinema. I watched a film for the first time in my life, when I was still a child. I was incredibly drawn to film. I decided I would become a movie star . But my father had other plans for her. After graduating from high school, she was to marry a fortune. The future star even considered committing suicide. My only dream from a young age was to become an artist; if I achieved my goal, I owe it solely to my strong will and perseverance. Despite the vigorous protests of my family (what a scandal!), despite the ridicule of my friends and the sneers of my loved ones, I took the shortest route to the cinema – through the window… The beginnings were quite difficult; I had 30 złoty of my entire fortune and temporarily stayed in a hotel on Długa Street . "
| Eugeniusz Bodo and Nora Ney during their visit to Krakow (NAC)
However, her middle-class father quickly came to her aid, supporting her financially and accepting her acting training at Wiktor Biegański's prestigious film school . During the several-month course, Sonia learned mime, diction, and rhythm, but above all, she met people from the world of Polish cinema. It was then that she decided to break away from her past and adopted her stage name. In 1926, she made her film debut in the silent film " Gold Rush," directed by W. Biegański. Unfortunately, the film was lost. The turning point in her career came in the next film, " Red Clown," directed by the very talented director of Jewish descent Henryk Szaro . It is a crime story about the murder of a well-known Warsaw banker. Eugeniusz Bodo himself played the important role of the murderous stage manager , in his second film. Nora Ney had a less complex role. She earned 60 złoty for four days of shooting. More importantly, she played Bodo's wife in the film. On the set, the artist took care of Nora. He taught her film makeup, and on the day of the film's premiere, October 13, 1926, she was reportedly given an impressive bouquet of flowers with a witty dedication: "To my wife – Bodo." Unfortunately, critics didn't write anything about Nora's role in the film; it was only noted in her hometown newspaper, Białystok. From then on, Nora Ney and Eugeniusz Bodo formed a friendship, and even, as Polish newspapers gossiped, a passionate romance.
The breakthrough in Nora's career came with her fourth film, 1927's The Call of the Sea, directed by Henryk Szaro. Critics were delighted with her, and Polish audiences adored her. She became a film star at the age of 20. German Expressionism reigned supreme in European cinema at the time. In the USA, the American Film Academy was established. Nora Ney herself appeared in 12 Polish films before the outbreak of World War II. In silent cinema, these were mainly supporting roles in melodramas. An important role was played by Policeman Tagiyev from 1929, based on the novel by Gabriela Zapolska . The film's cinematographer, Seweryn Steinwurzel , perfected her star image, ensuring the young star's best lighting. "Kino-Teatr" wrote about her wide range of acting skills as a heroine forced to commit murder. The renowned German studio UFA took an interest in her. Ney, however, didn't risk breaking her Polish contract. The primary barrier was her lack of German language skills.
| Poster of the film "The Call of the Sea", directed by Henryk Szaro (1927)
The 30s brought six more films to Nora Ney's career. She passed the rigorous sound check with flying colors. She had good diction and a beautiful, low voice that suited her consciously crafted star image. She created the "Oriental Woman" type. Although not a classic beauty, she captivated with her beautiful, expressive dark eyes, her gaze was very sensual. Her thin lips, large nose, and round face were overlooked. In 1931, "Kino" magazine wrote of her: "She's not pretty. She's not handsome either. She has irregular facial features, a pesky nose, and a large mouth. But one look into her exquisite eyes, one smile that illuminates her entire face, one moment of observing her physiognomy is enough to understand: Nora Ney is not pretty. Nora Ney is charming ." Nora masterfully controlled her star image. She enhanced her exotic appearance, for example, darkening her face with powder for photos. Singer Jan Kiepura adored her. Special private screenings of her films were organized for President Ignacy Mościcki at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
She won the audience's love by playing passionate women in trouble. She also had a great time with fashion, with luxurious dresses accentuating her slender figure. But, like Marlene Dietrich, she also wore trousers in public. In 1933, she organized a ball where women performed in beautiful women's suits.
| Nora Ney, 1933 (Polona)
In 1932, she played the female lead in the film "Voice of the Desert," based on Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski's 1928 novel "The Desert Falcon ." It was created on the wave of popularity of films about sheikhs starring Rudolf Valentino . Nora played Dżemila, the wife of Sheikh Abdulakh, played by Eugeniusz Bodo. It was the first Polish film with full sound, shot on location in Algeria. It was also produced by the all-star studio founded by Bodo, Adam Brodzisz , and Michał Waszyński . Critics lamented the melodramatic plot and, in their opinion, Steinwurzel's poor cinematography, which he considered incompetently difficult to handle in the equatorial African sun. However, Nora Ney was widely praised for her portrayal of the unhappy and passion-driven Dżemila. A clever marketing ploy also helped: the star's lavishly photographed trip to Krakow with Eugeniusz Bodo in 1933. They posed there like a couple almost in love, which greatly influenced interest in their third and final film together. Interestingly, the star always vehemently denied any romance with Bodo in interviews, although she did repeat that "scandal is my middle name."
She then played a Russian woman once again in the 1934 film General Pankratov's Daughter . This was also her leading female role. Her character, Anyuta, is the daughter of a Russian general who fights against the Polish revolutionary movement. She, in turn, falls in love with a Polish fighter. But after her lover assassinates her own father, she commits suicide.
| "Kino" no. 17-24 (1932)
The star had a total of four husbands. The first was the distinguished Polish cinematographer Seweryn Steinwurzel, also of Jewish descent. They married in secret in 1928. They embarked on a beautiful honeymoon through Europe and Africa. He created her star image in their films together. But he did not want children. The divorce was granted in 1934, causing a social scandal. The star's second husband was Józef Fryd , a film critic, producer, and distributor of French films in Poland. He was also the father of Nora's only child, a daughter named Joanna, born in 1936.
Nora returned to cinema only in 1937, on the set of Women on the Precipice , where she played a demonic dancer and human trafficker. In her last film, she played the dancer Arleta. Doctor Murek premiered in April 1939. Over the course of 13 years, she appeared in a total of 12 films.
Her film career was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. She fled east with her three-year-old daughter, Joanna, and moved in with her half-sister, Lidia, in Białystok. Her second husband was sent to the Gulag. Together with her daughter and sister, they ended up in Moscow in 1940, where Nora was offered a major role in a Soviet film. Unfortunately, her lack of Russian language skills ended the project. She reportedly only read poetry on Soviet radio. But the film " The Call of the Sea ," in which she appeared between the wars, helped her. Twenty-five copies of it reached the Soviet Union and likely saved Nora's life in exile in Kazakhstan. She consciously refused to return to her second husband at the time. Her lover at the time was the Russian architect Stefan Troitski.
| Nora Ney, 1935 (Polona)
After the end of World War II, she returned to Poland with her daughter and sister. She placed her daughter, Joanna, in a Jewish orphanage in Otwock for a short period. She and her sister visited their hometown only to learn that no one in their large family had survived the Holocaust. Nora tried to return to film acting, but in Łódź, she was told by director Aleksander Ford that the Sanacja star had no chance of working in the new communist reality. She also struggled to find her place in postwar Polish theater. During the interwar period, she attempted a stage career, without much success.
She decided to emigrate to America. On June 8, 1946, thanks to financial assistance from the Jewish organization HIAS , she arrived by ship in New York with her daughter and sister. Thanks to her artistic talents, the latter quickly secured work as an interior decorator. Both also appeared younger in their documents. Nora listed her birth year as 1914.
The former star, however, struggled to find work. She spoke neither English nor Yiddish. She worked in a doll factory, was an archivist, and cared for children and the elderly. In 1950, she married her third husband, Czech psychiatrist Eugene Braun . The following decade, she met her fourth and final husband, Leon Friedland . He was a Russian Jew and provided her with plenty for the next quarter-century. They settled in sunny California.
| Nora Ney (Polona)
Her only daughter, Joanna Maria Ney, began her independent life at 18, working in film production and becoming a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . When she worked with famed director Stanley Kubrick , he tried unsuccessfully to revive her mother's film career. She recalled her mother as "stern, overly demanding, domineering, and overprotective." But also as an icon of elegance and beauty, she had to apply full makeup even before escaping to the bomb shelters.
Nora Ney enjoyed watching contemporary American films until the end of her life. She and her last husband were obligated to go to the cinema once a week. She adored the American star Bette Davis . Polish journalists sometimes wrote about her. In 1996, "General Pankratov's Daughter" was shown in New York during a Polish film retrospective. Nora Ney was invited to attend. However, the 90-year-old star declined due to poor health. By then, she was already suffering from Alzheimer's disease. She spent her final years in a Jewish nursing home in Encinitas and a hospice in Silverado . She died on February 21, 2003, "a Slavic soul with deep, black eyes that had lived through and seen much"...
Agata Olenderek
| Nora Ney, 1938 (Polona)
For centuries, Polish Jewish women lived on the border between two worlds, yet were not fully-fledged citizens in either. Jewish traditions bound them by a series of sometimes rigorous regulations regulating all, even the most intimate, spheres of life, while simultaneously limiting access to education. The Polish community viewed them ambivalently, as evidenced by the story of King Casimir and Esterka – they were often orientalized and sexualized through the prism of their cultural distinctiveness. Yet, they served as liaisons between the Polish and Jewish worlds. They established contacts with Polish neighbors more often than men – primarily through trade or other economic activities – and demonstrated a better command of the Polish language, even during the Holocaust. They participated in various areas of social life – education, science, and the arts, contributing a significant component to Polish cultural heritage.
Twice forgotten and censored – as women and Jews, as a doubly alien element, as the ultimate Other in the imaginarium of male-dominated Polish culture.
The Warsaw Ghetto Museum wants to help remember them – to bring back from oblivion figures and stories of significant Polish Jewish women and their cultural influences. We present a new series of columns devoted to Polish Jewish women – women of art, cinema, and literature; writers, translators, actresses, and all those who co-created Polish culture.
