The 'Leica Freedom Train'

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, s alespeople,

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- fi nders and other optical

systems for the German military. Also, the Nazi government desperatel y

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 imp risoned 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 t o 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 Acad emic 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.

I was certain that one and all would be interested in this historic item

that was little known and should certainly be brought to light.

Thank you for reading the above, and if you feel inclined as I did, to pass

it on to others, please do so. It only takes a few minutes.