A Leica story

[fschifano]

I don't know if this is true, but if it is, hats off to Leica.

The Leica is the pioneer 35mm camera. It is a German product - precise, minimalist, and utterly efficient. Behind its worldwide acceptance as a creative tool was a family-owned, socially oriented firm that, during the Nazi era, acted with uncommon grace, generosity and modesty. E. Leitz Inc., designer and manufacturer of Germany 's most famous photographic product, saved its Jews.
And Ernst Leitz II, the steely-eyed Protestant patriarch who headed the closely held firm as the Holocaust loomed across Europe , acted in such a way as to earn the title, "the photography industry's Schindler."


As soon as Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany in 1933, Ernst Leitz II began receiving frantic calls from Jewish associates, asking for his help in getting them and their families out of the country. As Christians, Leitz and his family were immune to Nazi Germany's Nuremberg laws, which restricted the movement of Jews and limited their professional activities.
To help his Jewish workers and colleagues, Leitz quietly established what has become known among historians of the Holocaust as "the Leica Freedom Train," a covert means of allowing Jews to leave Germany in the guise of Leitz employees being assigned overseas.
Employees, retailers, family members, even friends of family members were "assigned" to Leitz sales offices in France , Britain , Hong Kong and the United States .
Leitz's activities intensified after the Kristallnacht of November 1938, during which synagogues and Jewish shops were burned across Germany .
Before long, German "employees" were disembarking from the ocean liner Bremen at a New York pier and making their way to the Manhattan office of Leitz Inc., where executives quickly found them jobs in the photographic industry.*
Each new arrival had around his or her neck the symbol of freedom – a new Leica.
The refugees were paid a stipend until they could find work. Out of this migration came designers, repair technicians, salespeople, marketers and writers for the photographic press.

Keeping the story quiet
The "Leica Freedom Train" was at its height in 1938 and early 1939, delivering groups of refugees to New York every few weeks. Then, with the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, Germany closed its borders.
By that time, hundreds of endangered Jews had escaped to America , thanks to the Leitzes' efforts. How did Ernst Leitz II and his staff get away with it?
Leitz Inc. was an internationally recognized brand that reflected credit on the newly resurgent Reich. The company produced range-finders and other optical systems for the German military. Also, the Nazi government desperately needed hard currency from abroad, and Leitz's single biggest market for optical goods was the United States .
Even so, members of the Leitz family and firm suffered for their good works. A top executive, Alfred Turk, was jailed for working to help Jews and freed only after the payment of a large bribe.
Leitz's daughter, Elsie Kuhn-Leitz, was imprisoned by the Gestapo after she was caught at the border, helping Jewish women cross into Switzerland . She eventually was freed but endured rough treatment in the course of questioning.


She also fell under suspicion when she attempted to improve the living conditions of 700 to 800 Ukrainian slave laborers, all of them women, who had been assigned to work in the plant during the 1940s.
(After the war, Kuhn-Leitz received numerous honors for her humanitarian efforts, among them the Officier d'honneur des Palms Academic from France in 1965 and the Aristide Briand Medal from the European Academy in the 1970s.)


Why has no one told this story until now? According to the late Norman Lipton, a freelance writer and editor, the Leitz family wanted no publicity for its heroic efforts. Only after the last member of the Leitz family was dead did the "Leica Freedom Train" finally come to light.
It is now the subject of a book, "The Greatest Invention of the Leitz Family: The Leica Freedom Train," by Frank Dabba Smith, a California-born Rabbi currently living in England .
Thank you for reading the above, and if you feel inclined as I did to pass it along to others, please do so. It only takes a few minutes.

[Chris Lange]

Yep, it's very much true, there's a lot of varied resources on it, and a fantastic short documentary is somewhere on the web about the whole ordeal.

[DanielStone]

wow...

that's powerful!

I watched Schindler's List the other day for the 1st time. Boy, these guys(Schindler and Leitz) sure had some big cajones to run up against the Nazis like they did! that's real bravery!

-Dan

[DLawson]

I'd heard that they relocated their employees. I hadn't heard that they relocated fake employees. Impressive.

[MPandolfo]

I watched Schindler's List the other day for the 1st time. Boy, these guys(Schindler and Leitz) sure had some big cajones to run up against the Nazis like they did! that's real bravery!

Dan,
I agree with you, but the word is cojones (balls). Cajones has a different meaning (crates)

[Slixtiesix]

Admirable! I didn´t know this before. Thanks for sharing.
Regards, Benjamin

[cowanw]

This, of course, explains why we in Canada can't take the overnight shopping bus (Fri. night to Sun. morning) to New York City and shop on Saturday for Camera equipment.
Always a pet peave for me.
Tongue firmly in cheek

[Ian Grant]

Not a new story but a relatively unknown one.

Another interesting story is how Charles Noble swapped his photo processing business in the US to allow two German Jews to escape, in return he took over their Kamera Werkes - KW became part of VEB Pentacon in the 60's. He and his son were sent by the communists to the former Buchenwald concentration camp after the war ended. John, the son was later sent to a Siberian labour camp and only freed due to Eisenhower's intervention after a news of his survival reached the US in 1956.

Ian

[apconan]

Probably more made-up babble to make people feel good about spending ridiculous amounts on a 'legendary' product

[Richard Wasserman]

Please check your facts first, this is a true story.


This is a

Probably more made-up babble to make people feel good about spending ridiculous amounts on a 'legendary' product