Dear Karen,
I have a pair of Leica binoculars that I bought from Redlitz (sp?) in
1965 (?). They are 7x35's and I love them. We just got Frank
Swarovskis, 8 x 32's, because of his failing eyesight. I have to tell
you that my old Leica's are pretty close to what I see in his
binoculars. I was delighted with your story as I did not know the
background of this amazing family.
Thank you!
Anna
On Mar 14, 2006, at 7:04 PM, KarenNyere@xxxxxxx wrote:
This is an amazing story, I know it's not "bird oriented" but I think it will make all you Leica owners proud.
James Auer E-MAIL | ARCHIVE
>
> I carry my Leica camera a bit more proudly these days. The reason? A story I
> had never heard before - a tale of courage, integrity and humility that is
> only now coming to light, some 70 years after the fact.
>
> The Leica is the pioneer 35mm camera. From a nitpicking point of view, it
> wasn't the very first still camera to use 35mm movie film, but it was the
> first to be widely publicized and successfully marketed.
>
> It created the "candid camera" boom of the 1930s. It is a German product -
> precise, minimalist, utterly efficient. Behind its worldwide acceptance as a
> creati! ve 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 George Gilbert, a veteran writer on topics photographic, told the story at
> last week's convention of the Leica Historical Society of America in Portland,
> Ore., Leitz Inc., founded in Wetzlar in 1869, had a tradition of enlightened
> behavior toward its workers. Pensions, sick leave, health insurance - all were
> instituted early on at Leitz, which depended for its work force upon
> generations of skilled employees - many of whom were Jewish.
>
> The 'Leica Freedom Train'
>
> 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 fe! ll 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.
>
> The book ($5 plus postage) is available from the American Photographic
> Historical Society, 1150 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036. I
> recommend it.
>
> Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Oct. 9, 2002. James Auer Archive
>
>
