MetaChat - The Leica Freedom Train

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30 June 2006

The Leica Freedom Train "After being hired by the New York Office of Leitz in 1938, on alternate weeks, I witnessed the arrival and processing of thirty or more Leitz-sponsored refugees who were lined up along the wall of our office waiting to be interviewed by Alfred Boch, Executive Vice President of E. Leitz, Inc. Boch put them up at the nearby Great Northern Hotel and spent the succeeding days on the telephone finding jobs for them throughout New York and the nation."
These refugees were Jews, trained in the camera business by Leitz in Germany so that upon immigration, they could find jobs in the U.S.(.pdf).

post by: matteo at: 14:30 | 6 comments

: >

posted by amberglow 30 June | 14:34

...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.

Story here (.pdf)

posted by matteo 30 June | 14:37

this is cool matteo, thanks!

posted by eekacat 30 June | 15:09

Wow, I had no idea. And all this time I thought they just made good microscopes!

posted by AlexReynolds 30 June | 15:29

excellent. i also had no knowledge of the leica legacy through wwii. this is encouraging...very beautiful.

posted by scala di seta 30 June | 15:35

Wow, I had no idea. And all this time I thought they just made good microscopes!

Leica microscopes and binoculars, sure, but Leica's 35mm rangefinder cameras and lenses are still their strongest claims to fame. Does anyone else remember that scene in the campy movie EuroTrip where the proud Leica-toting photo geek brags about how his Leica "makes a Nikon look like a point-and-shoot" to get some action from the camera-shop girl -- and she drags him out the back to give him a blowjob? Hyperbole for sure, but Leica's M-series is nevertheless very good. And oh-so-expensive.

(If that line worked on real-life women, I'd no longer be shooting with my Canons.)

posted by DaShiv 30 June | 18:11

← LP to CD? || Chameleon, lemon-headed, coward, terrorist pussy. [YouTube linky] →

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