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Alexander Granach (April 18, 1890 -- March 14, 1945) was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s. He was born Jessaja Granach in Werbowitz (Wierzbowce/Werbiwci) (Horodenka district, Austrian Galicia then, now Verbovtsy, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine) to Jewish parents and spent much of his early life in Horodenka. He later rose to theatrical prominence at the Volksbuehne in Berlin. Granach entered films in 1922; among the most widely exhibited of his silent efforts was the 1922 vampire classic Nosferatu. Granach fled to the Soviet Union when Hitler came to power. When the Soviet Union also proved too inhospitable, he settled in Hollywood, where he appeared in such films as Ninotchka and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Alexander Granach's autobiography, There Goes an Actor, was published in 1945. (adapted from Wikipedia).
In his autobiography, Granach recalls some aspects of life in Horodenka and other towns (including Zaleshchiki, Stanislau, and Lemberg). Extracts from the book are provided here. Translations of additional chapters concerning Horodenka can be found on the Jewishgen Yizkor Book web site for Sefer Horodenka.
(Extracts from Alexander Granach: There Goes an Actor, Doubleday, Dorian and Co, Inc., Garden City 1945, ASIN B0007DSBEM )
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