Draft:Abraham Hechtmann

Abraham Hechtmann
Абрам Борухович Гехтман
Born	c. 1865 Moscow, Russian Empire
Died	28 July 1934 Berlin, Germany
Citizenship	Russian Empire
Occupations	Cinema entrepreneur, film distributor, jeweller, watchmaker
Known for	Electrotheatre "Ars", Tverskaya 23, Moscow; founding of "Globus" film distribution company
Spouse	Matla Naftalievna Izrailovich (m. 19 June 1891)
Children	Anna, Lev, Boris, Mark

Abraham (Abram) Borukhovich Hechtmann (Russian: Абрам Борухович Гехтман; also transliterated as Gekhtman, Gechtmann, or Hechtman; born c. 1865, Moscow; died 28 July 1934, Berlin) was a Russian-Jewish cinema entrepreneur who played a significant role in the development of early commercial cinema in pre-revolutionary Moscow. Beginning his working life as a watchmaker and jeweller, he built one of the city's first cinema chains, founded Moscow's earliest known film distribution company, and constructed the landmark Electrotheatre "Ars" on Tverskaya Street — a building that remains in active use as a theatre today. He emigrated to Berlin, where he operated cinemas until the rise of National Socialism forced him from the industry. He died in Berlin in 1934.

Early life and family

Abraham Hechtmann was born around 1865 in Moscow into the Jewish community of the city. His estate was registered as Meshchanstvo (the urban petty bourgeoisie) of Bronnaya Sloboda, Moscow — one of the historic quarters associated with Moscow's artisan and trading population. His earliest recorded occupation was as a senior reserve clerk in the Chancellery of the Moscow Military Hospital, a position that placed him on the margins of the imperial administrative world before he transitioned into trade and entrepreneurship.

On 19 June 1891, Hechtmann married Matla Naftalievna Izrailovich in Moscow. The marriage and the births of their children are documented in the holdings of the Central State Archive of Moscow (ЦГА Москвы, Fond 2372, Op. 1, D. 36, p. 185, and D. 37). The couple had four children: Anna, Lev, Boris, and Mark.

Cinema entrepreneur in Moscow

Hechtmann's transition from the jewellery and watchmaking trade into cinema exhibition made him one of the more colourful figures of Moscow's early film industry. Academic and heritage sources describe him as "a watchmaker and jeweller Abram Gekhtman" who "started building his cinema empire" in the early years of the twentieth century.

In 1906, Hechtmann opened his first cinema, "Bolshoy Parizhsky" (Grand Parisian), on the Arbat — one of Moscow's most fashionable commercial thoroughfares. The venue had a capacity of approximately 225 seats. He subsequently opened a second cinema at the corner of Pyatnitskaya Street.

Beyond exhibition, Hechtmann founded "Globus", which is documented as the first film distribution company in Moscow — a significant commercial innovation that placed him at the structural centre of the emerging local film trade, connecting producers and exhibitors. His role in this formative period has been acknowledged in scholarship: the academic journal Apparatus identifies him among the pioneers of the Moscow film exhibition business, referring to "the jeweler Gekhtmann who had ventured into the film exhibitor's business".

In the spring of 1913, Hechtmann opened another cinema, "Union" (Unyon), on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street. A contemporary review in the trade journal Sine-Fono noted on 27 April 1913: «Во главе театра стоит А.Б. Гехтман» ("The theatre is headed by A.B. Gekhtman"). That building was later used as the "Theatre of Repeated Films" and subsequently became the Theatre U Nikitskikh Vorot.

The Ars Electrotheatre

The most ambitious and enduring project of Hechtmann's Moscow career was the Electrotheatre "Ars" at Tverskaya 23. In 1913, he leased a building at that address from Count Alexei Kapnist. He had the building substantially reconstructed by architect Pavel Zabolotsky as a purpose-built cinema palace, creating a 900-seat auditorium with an orchestra pit, two foyers, two grand staircases, and a buffet. The neoclassical facade featured a balcony and decorative lion sculptures — an architectural statement that set the Ars apart from the improvised storefronts in which most early Russian cinemas operated.

By July 1915, the construction was near completion: Sine-Fono reported that «А.Б. Гехтман заканчивает постройку нового большого театра по Тверской под названием «Кино-Арс»» ("A.B. Gekhtman is completing the construction of a new large theatre on Tverskaya called Kino-Ars"). The grand opening of the Electrotheatre "Ars" took place in November 1915, with the inaugural screening of the film Son o mechte zolotoy ("Dream of the Golden Dream"). With nearly a thousand seats, an orchestra, and a monumental interior, the Ars represented the high-water mark of the pre-revolutionary Moscow cinema-palace model.

The building subsequently acquired additional historical significance: in 1918, Vladimir Lenin spoke from the building's balcony at a meeting held on the anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

Life in Berlin

Following the Bolshevik nationalization of private cinema property in 1919, Hechtmann emigrated. By the late 1920s and early 1930s he was established in Berlin, where he resumed his career as a cinema proprietor (German: Kinobesitzer).

The Berliner Adressbücher (Berlin address directories) for 1931, 1932, and 1933 list him as "Hechtmann, A., Kinobes., Wilmersdorf, Sächsische Str. 24" — indicating a residence in the Wilmersdorf district. He also appears in the Jüdisches Adressbuch für Groß-Berlin (Jewish Address Book for Greater Berlin) 1931/32, page 150, confirming his identification within the Jewish communal life of the city.

In the mid-1920s, Hechtmann was among the founders of Spektatorfilm, a distribution company established together with his former Russian colleagues Pavel Antik, Antonina Khanzhonkova, and A. Springfeld. The company evolved into the Spektator-Lichtspiele GmbH, which owned two Berlin cinemas: the Schiller-Kino and the Kammer-Lichtspiele (Wedding).

Records from the Handelsregister (Commercial Register) for 1929 document his involvement in two Berlin cinema businesses:

• Hofjäger-Lichtspiele GmbH (Hasenheide 52/53): Hechtmann served as co-director alongside Arthur Lang, with a registered capital of 45,000 Reichsmark.
• Spektator Lichtspiel-GmbH (Müllerstraße 36): Hechtmann served as co-director alongside David Bojarski, with a registered capital of 45,000 Reichsmark.

The trajectory of his professional designation in official records is telling. The Berlin address directories of 1931–1933 list him as Kinobesitzer (cinema owner). By the time of his death certificate in 1934, his occupation had been recorded as kaufmännischer Angestellter (commercial employee) — a downward reclassification consistent with the systematic dispossession of Jewish business owners under Nazi Arisierung (Aryanisation) policies, which forced Jews out of ownership roles in German commercial life after 1933. Descendants have pursued restitution proceedings: the Wiedergutmachungsakte B Rep. 025-08 : 3806/51 (Landesarchiv Berlin) references his Berlin cinemas — including Hofjäger-Lichtspiele and Ars-Film-Gesellschaft — in the context of post-war compensation claims filed by Zinovi Levkov from New York City in 1951.

Death and aftermath

Abraham Hechtmann died on 28 July 1934 at the Sankt-Hedwig-Krankenhaus, a Catholic hospital in Berlin. His death was registered as Sterbeurkunde Nr. 963, Standesamt Berlin IX. At the time of his death, his address was recorded as Nachodstraße 2, Berlin-Schöneberg — a short distance from his earlier Wilmersdorf residence.

He died in a city whose government had, in the preceding year, stripped Jewish citizens of civil rights and economic standing. The change in his recorded occupation from Kinobesitzer to kaufmännischer Angestellter between the last address-book entries and his death certificate strongly suggests that he had been forced out of cinema ownership before he died.

Legacy

After the Bolshevik nationalization of 1919, the Ars building passed through several institutional uses reflecting Soviet cultural policy. From 1921, it housed Natalia Sats's children's theatre, and later the TYuZ (Theatre for Young Audiences). In 1950, the Moscow Drama Theatre named after K. S. Stanislavsky moved into Tverskaya 23, where it has remained.

In 2015, the theatre was renamed the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre (Электротеатр Станиславский) following a major artistic and architectural renewal. The "Elektro" component of the new name was chosen explicitly to honour the building's origins as Hechtmann's Ars Electrotheatre — an act of institutional memory connecting the twenty-first-century stage to the Jewish cinema entrepreneur who built it over a century earlier.

The building at Tverskaya 23 thus stands as Hechtmann's most lasting monument: constructed by a watchmaker-turned-cinema-mogul in 1915, nationalized in 1919, repurposed across the Soviet era, and revived in the twenty-first century with a name that openly acknowledges its origins.

External links

• Sine-Fono No. 16 (1913), p. 26 — НЭБ
• Sine-Fono No. 18 (1915), p. 68 — НЭБ
• Antonina Khanzhonkova — Women Film Pioneers Project, Columbia University
• Landesarchiv Berlin — B Rep. 025-08 : 3806/51 (Findbuch)

Category:1865 births Category:1934 deaths Category:Russian emigrants to Germany Category:Jewish emigrants from Russia to Germany Category:Russian businesspeople Category:Jewish businesspeople Category:Film pioneers Category:Film distributors Category:People from Moscow Category:People from Berlin Category:Businesspeople from Moscow Category:Russian Jews Category:Cinema of Russia