bawlmer Loc: Baltimore, MD

I was sent this story by a friend and thought it was worthy of sharing. If this is the wrong area, I hope admin will move it to the proper place. :)

A great bit of (Unreported) history

Leica and the Jews

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. Memories of the righteous should live on.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Valuable history. Thank you for sharing.

Finch585 Loc: Northern California

Having lost close family to the Nazi death camps, I always think twice about making a major purchase of a German made product and try to look for known company ties back to those involved and/or sympathetic with the proven murders of the regime, (Jews and others).

So, I thank you for the vindicating information about the righteous Leicas.

Peace,
Jeffrey

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

never knew that history. thank you for a very interesting post. Makes me want to own a leica evenmore.

bawlmer Loc: Baltimore, MD

You're all quite welcome. Glad I could share it with you. :)

krgatlgm Loc: Las Vegas, Nv

Great story! Thank you for sharing with us.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Michael O' Loc: Midwest right now

Bawimer from "Baltimer" : Thank you for a fascinating story that is likely unknown to most of us, or even the rest of the world. Other adjectives to add to those you used to talk of the Leica product :dependable,
durable, delightful. I still have my faithful Leica IIIf purchased in Libya
in 1952, which I used to take some 10,000 color slides in Turkey, across N Africa from Morocco thru Egypt, and throughout Europe up to Denmark, and south to Italy and over to Greece. My Rollie was just as worthy, but ideal for uses slightly different. My Linhof Technica was great too, but different yet in optimum usages. But the little Leica with the 4 lenses (35mm, 50 mm 1.5, 85 mm 1.5, and 135 mm 3.5) was the ultimate ! Its comforting to learn that the family was so generous and helpful to so many of the persecuted, as well as having been so outstanding in the technical realm of metal and glass. Thank You.
Michael O' soccermick33@yahoo.com

francesca3 Loc: Sausalito, CA

Thank you for telling that story.
My father was one of the first Allied boots to step inside the gates of Dachau. He and his buddies took photos of what they saw because they thought no one would believe them: Railroad cars filled with emaciated dead bodies; pits filled with dead bodies, piles of gold tooth fillings and lamp shades made of human skin; rows of ovens used to burn bodies; and more.
(My dad hardly ever spoke about his experiences in WWII but he told this story.)
He and a few others went to nearby farms and barged in on families' Sunday dinners, took the food on the tables against protests that they "did not know" what had been going on at the concentration camp. They took the food to the few survivors at the Dachau camp.
It is heartening to know there were people like the Leitz's.

cheineck Loc: Hobe Sound, FL

Great story! Kinda like Shindler's List.

cmge Loc: Arkansas

I have goosebumps. Thank you very much for sharing. I am glad my first non Brownie was a Leica.

guy145 Loc: Norridge IL

Thank you bawlmer for the facts,loved it.

kit Loc: BARABOO WI

This is a great story. Thank you for it. Kit

annemarie Loc: N.W. NJ

Yes, the story is certainly worth sharing. I am currently reading much about the holocaust and know I would probably never have survived. What a waste of human life. I just ordered DO THE BIRDS STILL SING IN HELL by Horace Greasley. If you are interested in the subject, it should be an excellent read. Thank you so much for sharing this information.
Annemarie

Phyllis Loc: NE PA

Wonderful story! I bought a Leica M9 a few months ago and really love it. I was so glad to read this.

:D