A new film by Michael Swerdlow tells the history of Liverpool’s Jewish community.
Filmmaker Michael Swerdlow has released a new documentary film about Liverpool’s Jewish community, entitled The Story of Harold House.
Michael released this latest production as a sequel to his acclaimed 2008 work, Chicken Soup and Scouse, which charted the history of the community from the 1700s to the present era. The new documentary goes back to the 1920s when Harold House, a well-known youth club and community centre, was founded. Featuring old film and video footage and archive material, it also includes anecdotes and interviews from members, staff, volunteers and committee members.
The documentary acts as a trip down memory lane but is also a piece of communal history as Harold House provided a wide range of social, cultural, religious and sports programmes and facilities as well as housing a kosher restaurant and acting as the home of communal organisations for many generations of the community. The centre closed its doors in 2009 and was demolished after the Liverpool community shrank, but Michael’s film allows past users of the centre and members of the UK’s wider Jewish community to discover the history of a former cultural hub.
To obtain a copy of the film, email Michael at michael@swerdlow.co.uk.