[rollei_list] Re: Rollei TLR - The History by Ian Parker

  • From: John Jensen <jwjensen356@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 20:43:26 -0700 (PDT)

Now that I am home again I am able to check the
book(s).  The book with the photo of the factory with
the Nazi flags flying is 'The Golden Book of the
Rolleiflex' by Walther Heering (1936 - my year, by the
way).
 
Regarding the picture that I mentioned, does anyone
have a copy of the pamphlet '80 Years Rollei'?   Check
page 13 for the photo of the reception room.  The
picture hanging there certainly looks like Herr
Hitler(as he NY Times would refer to any dictator,
large or small).

Please remember that any public documents of the time
would have a Nazi symbol on it.  I know a nice lady in
England who was born in 1937 and the hakenkreuz is
stamped on her birth certificate.  It would have been
hard to avoid at the time.

John

--- Allen Zak <azak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> On Sep 5, 2006, at 4:44 PM, John Jensen wrote:
> 
> >
> > I have a Rollei book from the 30s at home ('The
> Golden
> > Book'???) with numerous factory pictures in it. 
> One
> > is of the exterior of the factory with a
> hakenkreuz
> > flag on a flagpole.  Another is an interior shot
> with
> > a portrait on the far wall with an image
> suspiously
> > like that of Adolph's.  Wrong?  Well, to do
> otherwise
> > at the time would have caused much trouble.
> 
> During the mid 1950s, in a collection of German
> photo industry 
> promotional publications, I came across that same (I
> think) book.  It 
> contained a number of Rolleiflex photographs, most
> ordinary salon type 
> pictures, but included were several flattering
> photos of Nazi officials 
> and regalia.  These, along with the aforementioned
> factory view with 
> Nazi flag at each corner of the building, led me to
> believe that 
> either/or Francke and Heidecke were ardent Nazi
> supporters or were 
> trying to curry favor with them.  Parker's
> assertions of F & H 
> complicity with German fascism was entirely
> consistent with this 
> because none of the other books and pamphlets made
> any reference to the 
> regime, except perhaps for a distant ship in a
> harbor displaying a 
> flag, or some other unavoidable Nazi artifact.   It
> made sense to me 
> that during the 30s, German companies trading on an
> international 
> market would try to avoid a touchy political
> controversy unless they 
> had some sort of agenda.
> There is no evidence, however, that F & H or the
> German photo industry 
> as a whole, committed war crimes and some, Leitz and
> Zeiss among them, 
> made efforts to protect their Jewish employees.
> 
> Allen Zak
> 
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