A Deadly Fire:
The End of Stremer in Belarus
Part II
Based on the problems with his gasoline engine, you might think that when Stremer’s theater burned down on October 9, 1909, that it was his engine that caused it. But the police investigations and news reports show that, not only was it not his fault, but he helped pay for those who were hurt out of his own pocket.
All reports agree that the fire did not start in Stremer’s theater but in Kaplan’s printing house. Nasha Niva [Our Field] from October 15, 1909, reported just that.
Nasha Niva newspaper reporting on the Stremer theater fire in Minsk, 1909.
"On October 7, a gasoline engine exploded in the Kaplan printing house on the street. The quarter, where the Stremer Electro-biograph was located, caught fire everywhere, and then the fire spread to other buildings. The fire did a lot of damage. About 15 people were seriously injured and one girl was killed."1
Cine-Phono also wrote the fire started in the printing house. It added that “Several people fell victim to the flames, including, by the way, the young daughter of the theater mechanic, Mr. Savich. We express our condolences to Mr. Savich in his subsequent grief."2
On October 15, 1909, Kinemo gave a higher estimate of the wounded and gave more details.
“The total number of wounded reaches 20. Many are seriously injured.
* * *
From a strong concussion of the air on four streets in the best stores, mirror windows are broken. In many apartments, the home furnishings were destroyed.
The family of the mechanic Savich, who lived in the mezzanine, fell into Stremer's theater, engulfed in flames. Merchants and customers who were in neighboring stores were wounded. The Stremer Theater burned to the ground. Rakovshchik's house was insured for 140 thousand rubles.
During the excavations, the charred corpse of the seventeen-year-old daughter of the fishmonger Levitan was extracted. As it turned out, a ten-month-old girl, the daughter of mechanic Savich, died in the fire. There are eight wounded in the Jewish hospital, two seriously.
In addition to those firefighters, five more people who were in the yard and in the nearest shops at the time of the explosion were injured. Firefighters are still working at the scene of the fire. Excavations continue.
* * *
Losses are estimated at 800,000 rubles, and the following insurance companies suffered: "Rossiyskoye", "Transportnoye", "2nd Rossiyskoye", "Salamander".3
Kinemo Magazine
Below you can see a photo of the damage. This picture was taken from the third floor of the Rakovshcick House. That means the Kaplan Printing House is on the left, probably the building with the metal railing in front of the balcony. The building with the white wall and the external stairway could have been the location of Stremer’s theater.
Source: НГАБ [NGAR] Дзьмітры Кішкілевіч [Dmitri Kishkelevich] TUT.BY, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
You can see from this 1897 plan that the picture is taken from the inside balcony at the corner of Gubernatorskaya and Zacharevskaya.4
The Kurjer Litewski for October 10 probably has the most detailed account of the fire.
“As far as could be determined based on reliable reports, the cause of the massive fire was a gasoline engine operating in E. Kaplan's printing house. The engine exploded with terrifying force, causing nearby walls to crack and fracture. Simultaneously, electrical wires snapped, creating 'short circuits' in many places, resulting in intense fire where metal not only melts but burns with a flame.
One such strong short circuit occurred in the warehouse of celluloid films at Stremer's Cinematograph, where a second explosion took place. Both explosions were so immediate, one after the other, that few could distinguish between them."
* * *
"Losses are difficult to calculate for now. Some were insured for a very high amount; however, some shops (T. Staroniewicz’s grocery store, Levitan’s fish warehouse, etc.) were not insured at all. At the last moment, they report to us that the cause of the explosion was gasoline stored in huge quantities in the basement of Levitan's pharmacy warehouse."
"In Kaplan's printing house, among other things, almost all the material gathered for the Minsk Calendar for the year 1910 was burned. The Calendar will probably not be released."
* * *
"[The owner of the cinema] covers all costs out of his own pocket and has surrounded the injured mechanic and his wife with the most tender care." 5
Kurjer Litewski
Minsk, Gubernatorskaya street, beginning of the XXth century
Source: https://www.belarus.by/rel_image/330
Kaplan apparently later got back into business. Despite his reported efforts,6 Stremer never reopened in Minsk. Soon after this, Stremer’s “empire” started to crumble.
1 Наша Ніва (Nasha Niva) [Our Field], 28 Oct. 1909, p. 612.
2 Сине Фоно (Sine Fono) [Cine Phono], No. 2, 15 Oct. 1909, p. 7.
3 Кинемо (Kinemo) [Cinema], No. 16, 15 Oct. 1909, pp. 11-12.
4 Маракоў, Леанід [Marakov, Leanid] Галоўная Вуліца Мінска 1890-1940 гг. Кніга 2 [The Main Streets of Minsk, 1880 to 1940. Book 2] Art and Literature, 2012 p. 86
5 “Minsk Echa” [Minsk Echo]. Kurjer Litewski [Lithuanian Courier], 10 Oct. 1909, p. 3.
6 “Minsk Echa” [Minsk Echo]. Kurjer Litewski [Lithuanian Courier], 09 Feb. 1910, p. 3.