Cemetery, daily activity, and synagogue in Filipow

Herman and Lotte Bland emigrated from Poland to the United States settling in Chicago and Milwaukee. Herman (1893-1945) was born in Filipow and Lotte (Zlata Marks, 1896-1953) was born in Suwalki. In 1937, they decided to visit their birthplaces with their children, Leonard and Harold. They traveled from New York to Le Havre on the SS Normandie. Herman, a motion picture operator and theater owner, brought along a Bell and Howell 16mm motion picture camera. At the age of twenty, Leonard, shot most of the footage and thus is not pictured in the film.

Zawel Borodowski was a butcher in Filipow and was murdered during the Holocaust. Many of his family members were exiled to Grodno, then to Slonim, where they perished. Two of his brothers (Israel and Abe) immigrated to the US and changed their name to Brown. Zawel's daughter immigrated to Israel in 1935, where she was able to reunite with her husband (originally from Przerosl) and raise a family.

Herman and Lotte Bland emigrated from Poland to the United States settling in Chicago and Milwaukee. Herman (1893-1945) was born in Filipow and Lotte (Zlata Marks, 1896-1953) was born in Suwalki. In 1937, they decided to visit their birthplaces with their children, Leonard and Harold. The family traveled from New York to Le Havre on the SS Normandie. Herman, a motion picture operator and theater owner, brought along a Bell and Howell 16mm motion picture camera. At one point in the trip the family came across "Kill the Jews" inscribed in Polish in newly poured cement around the Suwalki outdoor market. The Americans filmed the graffiti and were taken to the police station where the film in the camera was confiscated. The poverty, use of peat for heating, washing of clothes in the river, and antisemitism witnessed throughout the trip greatly affected the Blands. As a result, Lotte became very involved in charitable work, serving as President of the Women's Auxiliary of Hebrew Theological Seminary.