The Leica ‘Freedom Train’
Leitz Inc., founded in Wetzlar in 1869, had a tradition of enlightened behavior toward its workers. As soon as Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany in 1933, Ernst Leitz began receiving frantic calls from Jewish associates, asking for his help in getting them and their families out of the country. […]
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. […]
German “employees” disembarking from the ocean liner Bremen at a New York pier went to Leitz’s Manhattan office, where they were helped to find jobs. Each new arrival was given a Leica camera.
