Re: [Leica] Re: Nazi Paraphernalia

["Dan Post" <dpost@triad.rr.com>]

Marc-
I feel a lot better about efforts to get a really nice 1938 IIIb (with
uncoated Summar, of course). I am not a collector but this one camera seemed
to represent a lot of the unseen positive actions taken by many of the
citizens of Germany. I felt that if I were to have any collectible, the IIIb
would be it.... of course, I wouldn't sneer at getting a 1A, however!
The inability of most of the German citizenry to prevent what happened, for
the most part, is no more the fault of the vast majority of the German
people- than the failure of the citizens of Miami  from preventing the US
Government taking little Elian Gonzales. Protesting in the face of
overwhelming firepower is hazardous to your health. Ask Randy Weaver, or the
survivors of Waco....
Dan
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc James Small" <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 11:04 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: Nazi Paraphernalia


> At 01:14 AM 2/15/2001 -0500, Douglas Cooper wrote:
> >Couldn't agree more.  In fact, I used to feel more than a little
> >uncomfortable about using a camera from a company so strongly identified
> >with, for instance, the Luftwaffe.  I've heard stories recently,
however --
> >I hope their true -- about Leica supplying "sample" Leicas to Jews trying
to
> >escape, and that these expedited things at the border.  Now if only I
could
> >find evidence that Franke & Heidecke had behaved honorably, I might feel
a
> >bit better about carrying a Rolleiflex.
>
> Doug
>
> PLEASE!  The stories about the "sample" Leicas are true.  And Elsie
> Kuehn-Leitz spent some time in a Concentration Camp for her anti-Nazi
> activities.  And the Manager of Leitz, Henri Dumur, played up his Swiss
> citizenship so that he could tell off Nazi bigwigs on occasion.  (And he
> flew the Swiss flag when the American troops approached, so they wouldn't
> shell the plant -- this went clear up to Ike, who said, "hands off until
we
> find out what's going on!", thus saving Wetzlar from a conflagration.)
>
> Zeiss shielded more than 3,000 slave laborers from the camps on the
grounds
> that they were "vital to the German war effort".  The Nazi Party had the
> head of Zeiss, Heinz Kuppenbender, arrested and tried him as a traitor
> because of this -- it took the intervention of Speer to get the
proceedings
> quashed, as Kuppenbender was also head of the entire German optical
> industry at the time.  (And then the Allies tried Kuppenbender as well --
> his former slave laborers testified in his behalf, thanking him for saving
> their lives.  Even the US Army official in charge of Allied Optical
> Reparations, Colonel Dr Carl Nelson, testified in behalf of Kuppenbender.)
>
> Voigtlander refused all efforts by the Nazis to make them use slave
> laborers.  Franke & Heidecke refused government contracts and attempted
> (rather successfully) to avoid manufacturing military items, making
medical
> lab gear instead.
>
> I cannot think of a German camera or lens firm which DID co-operate
> willingly with the Nazis.  Certainly, the ones listed above did not, nor
> did Jhagee nor Steinheil nor JSK.
>
> Marc
>
> msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
> Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!
>
>