Leica and the Jews: 'The Leica Freedom Train'

[Hogleg 44]

The Article with the pictures.....OP-ED: Leica and the Jews: 'The Leica Freedom Train' - Huntington News Network

Nov. 7, 2010

OP-ED: Leica and the Jews: 'The Leica Freedom Train'

Special to Huntingtonnews.net

With the 72nd anniversary of Nazi Germany's infamous Kristallnacht coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 9, it's time to retell the story about "The Leica Freedom Train."

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.

Editor's Note: Accompanying this op-ed is a photo of a 1938 Leica II camera, a plaque on a Berlin synagogue and the front page of the Nov. 11, 1938 New York Times with the story of the Kristallnacht of Nov. 9-10, 1938.

[tml]

Wow, thank you, Paul, for this information and education. Now I feel better using Leicas! Tri

[Colyn]

It still amazes me the compassion the Leitz family showed toward the Jews in light of the fact that there was so much hatred toward the Jews during that time..even among so called Christians..

[cooltouch]

Wow a great bit of history, Paul. This sort of dovetails with stories I was told by Jewish expats, or members of their family.

Back in another life some 20 years ago when I was a camera dealer living on the Left Coast, I attended many camera shows, and got to know other camera dealers, as well as show "regulars." Many of these folks were avid Leica collectors, some of whom had escaped Nazi Germany with little more than the clothes on their backs -- and their Leicas. I was told by a couple of these folks that the Jews who were lucky enough to get out were not allowed to take cash or jewelry with them. Essentially, they were forced by the state to abandon their wealth if they wanted to leave. Well, apparently they found a loophole, and the loophole was photo gear. So some of these people loaded up on Leica cameras and lenses -- in other words, transferring their weath into collectibles that had some liquidity -- and were able to leave the country with their Leica gear. Back when I knew them, they still revered and treasured these old cameras, regarding them as precious jewelry, and truly as wealth saviors. I've always thought that was a great anecdote to an otherwise tragic page in human history.

[dmora]

awesome.

[Janice_d]

What an Awesome story..silent hero's..:)

[adam.watts]

excellent story, thanks for sharing!

[kayumangi]

Great story, thanks for sharing Paul, always appreciate your posts.

[texxter]

I had no idea, great story, thank you for sharing it, Paul!

[rfortson]

Great story, thanks for sharing it. I'll look at Leica in a different light now.

I guess this also had a major bearing on why major New York shops such as Adorama and B&H are Jewish-owned/operated.

[Comanche]

Thanx, Paul

[studiocygnet]

What a wonderful story.