{ "id": "epzsnshscb", "slug": "the-shop-on-main-street", "title": "The Shop on Main Street", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure", "label": "War action and adventure", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999", "label": "War action films released through 1999", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1963-1998", "label": "Released 1963 to 1998", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1963-1998" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000: War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.eeu", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze), 1965 Czechoslovak film by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos; carpenter becomes Aryan controller of a Jewish widow's shop in 1942 Slovakia; first Eastern European Oscar winner, Best Foreign Language Film.", "snippet": "The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze), 1965 Czechoslovak film by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos; carpenter becomes Aryan controller of a Jewish widow's shop in 1942 Slovakia; first Eastern European Oscar winner, Best Foreign Language Film.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1963-1998", "markdown": "# The Shop on Main Street\n\n**The Shop on Main Street** (Slovak: *Obchod na korze*) is a 1965 Czechoslovak black-and-white drama directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, set in 1942 in the fascist Slovak State, where a poor carpenter is appointed \"Aryan controller\" of a button shop owned by an elderly deaf Jewish widow[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/669-the-shop-on-main-street) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059527/). It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and is counted among the key works of the Czechoslovak New Wave[3](https://www.laemmle.com/film/shop-main-street) • [4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Obchod na korze*; working titles *Past* / *Obchod na korzu*[4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street) |\n| Directors | Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, their seventh and penultimate joint project[5](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1815-world-premiere-of-restored-oscar-honored-the-shop-on-main-street) |\n| Source | Novella *Past* by Ladislav Grosman, published in the magazine *Plamen* in 1962; Grosman co-wrote the screenplay[4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street) |\n| Principal cast | Ida Kaminska (Rozália Lautmannová), Jozef Kroner (Tono Brtko), Hana Slivková, František Zvarík[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/669-the-shop-on-main-street) |\n| Awards | Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; Kaminska nominated for Best Actress; New York Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Film, 1966[3](https://www.laemmle.com/film/shop-main-street) • [6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/obchod-na-korze) |\n| Production | Filmed 1964 at Barrandov Film Studio, location scenes in Sabinov; Czechoslovak premiere 1 October 1965 in Prague[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/obchod-na-korze) • [7](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/cs/film/396649) |\n| Restoration | Digitally restored version premiered at the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on 1 July 2017[5](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1815-world-premiere-of-restored-oscar-honored-the-shop-on-main-street) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story takes place in 1942, when the Fascist government of the Slovak Republic adopts the [Nuremberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/nuremberg) laws and transfers Jewish enterprises into the hands of screened Slovak citizens[4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street). Tono Brtko, a decent carpenter, is appointed through his wife's brother-in-law Markus, a member of Hlinka's guards, as the \"aryanizer\" of the haberdashery of the widow Rozália Lautmannová on the town's main street[4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059527/).\n\nThe shop is nearly empty, and the Jewish community, through Brtko's acquaintance Imro Kuchár, pays him a small stipend to let the old woman believe he is merely her shop assistant[4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street). Lautmannová, very old and almost deaf, does not grasp what has happened to the town's Jews, and Brtko, through what one account calls a mixture of weakness, vacillation and decency, never disabuses her; a gentle, protective relationship develops between them[8](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/92439--the-shop-on-main-street-the-shop-on-the-high-street-obchad-na-korze-ntsc/) • [9](https://mzv.gov.cz/public/55/f/39/1581544_1360653_Czech_Film_Week_2015_program.pdf).\n\nWhen the town's Jews are summoned for transport, only the widow has been forgotten by the authorities. On the day of the deportation Brtko, paralyzed with fear, pushes her into the cellar; she dies falling down the stairs, and he hangs himself[4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street).\n\n## Production\n\nSlovak writer Ladislav Grosman published the novella *Past* (\"Trap\") in the magazine *Plamen* in 1962, then developed it into a literary script and a book titled *Obchod na korze*, published by Mladá fronta in Prague in 1965[4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street). Kadár and Klos worked on the script for three years while making *Death Is Called Engelchen* (1963) and *Accused* (1964), which form a loose trilogy with *The Shop on Main Street*[5](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1815-world-premiere-of-restored-oscar-honored-the-shop-on-main-street).\n\nFilming ran from 12 May to 5 November 1964 at Barrandov Film Studio, with location scenes shot in Sabinov, Czechoslovakia[7](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/cs/film/396649) • [6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/obchod-na-korze). Vladimír Novotný was the cinematographer, Zdeněk Liška composed the music, and the film was produced by Filmové studio Barrandov[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/669-the-shop-on-main-street) • [7](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/cs/film/396649). Although often labeled a Slovak film because of its setting and Oscar, it was produced by the Czech studio Barrandov with a largely Czech crew and Slovak actors[7](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/cs/film/396649).\n\nThe film premiered in Prague on 1 October 1965 and nationwide on 8 October; it was withdrawn from distribution on 30 June 1971, with renewed premieres in 1989, 1995, and 2018[7](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/cs/film/396649).\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nThe film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and sources date the award differently: the Criterion Collection says 1965, the [Karlovy Vary](https://www.edgepedia.org/karlovy-vary) festival account says 1966, and the Czech Filmový přehled database says 1967[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/669-the-shop-on-main-street) • [5](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1815-world-premiere-of-restored-oscar-honored-the-shop-on-main-street) • [4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street). The discrepancy reflects the lag between a film's year of production and the ceremony at which it was honored. It was preceded among Eastern European Academy Award winners by the Soviet documentary Moscow Strikes Back, which won the award in 1943[3](https://www.laemmle.com/film/shop-main-street) • [9](https://mzv.gov.cz/public/55/f/39/1581544_1360653_Czech_Film_Week_2015_program.pdf) • [14](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1943/Y).\n\nBecause the film was shown in Europe in 1965 but released in Los Angeles the following year, it was also eligible for other categories at the 1966 Academy Awards, and Ida Kaminska, a legend of the Yiddish theater, was nominated for Best Actress[9](https://mzv.gov.cz/public/55/f/39/1581544_1360653_Czech_Film_Week_2015_program.pdf) • [3](https://www.laemmle.com/film/shop-main-street). The film was also a [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) nominee at Cannes and received a special honorary mention there, according to the Czech distribution record, and won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Film in 1966[3](https://www.laemmle.com/film/shop-main-street) • [7](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/cs/film/396649) • [6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/obchod-na-korze).\n\nThe critic [Kenneth Tynan](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenneth-tynan) called it \"the most moving film about anti-Semitism ever made,\" and the screenwriter Eleanor Perry, reviewing it for *Life* magazine, praised it as \"a flawless examination of the toll of indecision and the penalty of passive decency\"[3](https://www.laemmle.com/film/shop-main-street).\n\n## Place in Czechoslovak cinema\n\nThe film was made during the period of Czech cinema known as the New Wave, though its directors were an established duo rather than members of the younger generation associated with the movement, such as Věra Chytilová, Jan Němec, and Jiří Menzel[5](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1815-world-premiere-of-restored-oscar-honored-the-shop-on-main-street) • [4](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street). Encyclopedia.com's survey notes that it was made in the tradition of classical film, without the formal innovations or the visible influence of cinéma vérité and the [French New Wave](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-new-wave) seen in younger directors' work[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/obchod-na-korze).\n\nThe film was not entirely welcomed at home. A note returned during screenplay approval read, \"Who would think this could be a film?\" The philosopher Egon Gál explained in a bonus interview for the restored edition that neither collaborators nor Jews wanted to revisit the period: \"The people who went through it wanted to forget. It was a taboo that Slovaks collaborated\"[10](https://www.aic.sk/files/Final-CKV21_film-EN-2021-VARY-web.pdf).\n\nFor Ján Kadár, who was Jewish and had escaped a camp during the war, losing almost his entire family, the film was a means of comprehending that experience; in a 2001 essay he wrote that his work was shaped not by the fate of all six million murdered Jews but by the fate of his father and his friends' fathers[10](https://www.aic.sk/files/Final-CKV21_film-EN-2021-VARY-web.pdf) • [1](https://www.criterion.com/films/669-the-shop-on-main-street).\n\nThe film's success opened possibilities only briefly. Kadár emigrated after 1968, following the suppression of the [Prague Spring](https://www.edgepedia.org/prague-spring), and Klos became a victim of the [Normalization](https://www.edgepedia.org/normalization) purges; Klos died in 1993 at the age of 83[5](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1815-world-premiere-of-restored-oscar-honored-the-shop-on-main-street) • [11](https://dmorgan.web.wesleyan.edu/films/shopmain.htm).\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film remains a reference point for the history of Aryanization (Nazi-era forced transfer of Jewish businesses to non-Jews) in Slovakia; a 2023 Slovak survey of Holocaust perception notes that, because of the Oscar-winning film, Aryanization is for most people associated with businesses such as shops and workshops, although the historical process covered all types of property[12](https://osf.sk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Survey-holocaust-2023-EN.pdf).\n\nA digitally restored print, the fifth restoration financed by the Czech Film Foundation, premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on 1 July 2017, presented by Elmar Klos's son, who remarked that the work remained current \"especially for the young who do not remember much and can be easily manipulated\"[5](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1815-world-premiere-of-restored-oscar-honored-the-shop-on-main-street) • [13](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1958-shiny-new-the-shop-on-main-street).\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Shop on Main Street (1965), The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/669-the-shop-on-main-street)\n2. [The Shop on Main Street (1965), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059527/)\n3. [Shop on Main Street, Laemmle Theatres](https://www.laemmle.com/film/shop-main-street)\n4. [The Shop on Main Street (1965), Filmový přehled](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/396649/the-shop-on-main-street)\n5. [World premiere of restored Oscar honored The Shop on Main Street, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1815-world-premiere-of-restored-oscar-honored-the-shop-on-main-street)\n6. [Obchod na Korze, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/obchod-na-korze)\n7. [Obchod na korze (1965), Filmový přehled (Czech)](https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/cs/film/396649)\n8. [The Shop on Main Street, ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/92439--the-shop-on-main-street-the-shop-on-the-high-street-obchad-na-korze-ntsc/)\n9. [The Shop on the Main Street, Czech Film Week 2015 program, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic](https://mzv.gov.cz/public/55/f/39/1581544_1360653_Czech_Film_Week_2015_program.pdf)\n10. [The Shop on Main Street: restoration materials, Slovak Film Institute / Audiovisual Industry Center](https://www.aic.sk/files/Final-CKV21_film-EN-2021-VARY-web.pdf)\n11. [The Shop on Main Street, Wesleyan University film notes](https://dmorgan.web.wesleyan.edu/films/shopmain.htm)\n12. [The Historical Context, Survey on Holocaust perception in Slovakia (2023), Open Society Foundation Slovakia](https://osf.sk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Survey-holocaust-2023-EN.pdf)\n13. [Shiny new The Shop on Main Street, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](https://www.kviff.com/en/news/1958-shiny-new-the-shop-on-main-street)\n14. [oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1943/Y)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War action and adventure › War action films released through 1999 › Released 1963 to 1998*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-shop-on-main-street", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-shop-on-main-street.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Shop on Main Street\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-shop-on-main-street. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Shop on Main Street](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-shop-on-main-street)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-shop-on-main-street](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-shop-on-main-street). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Shop on Main Street\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-shop-on-main-street. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Shop on Main Street, 1965 Czechoslovak film by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos; carpenter becomes Aryan controller of a Jewish widow's shop in 1942 Slovakia; first Eastern European Oscar winner, Best Foreign Language Film." }