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Introduction of the Leica I Ur-Leica -

In 1925 at the Leipzig Spring Fair in Germany, a small camera called the Leica I made its public debut. The Leica was an immediate success and was responsible for popularizing 35mm film photography.

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Oskar Barnack (1879–1936) -

German engineer and photographer Oskar Barnack is credited with designing the revolutionary camera. Barnack had in fact produced a prototype of the Leica I as early as 1913, the Ur-Leica, at the Ernst Leitz Optische Werke (the Leitz factory) in Wetzlar.

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First image taken using the Ur-Leica -

Barnack experimented with the Ur-Leica and was encouraged by the results. He'd earlier wandered through picturesque Eisenmarkt in the center of Wetzlar and taken this photograph, the first image captured by the Ur-Leica.

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Wetzlar, Germany -

In 1923, Barnack convinced his boss, Ernst Leitz II, to manufacture a series of 31 pre-production cameras for the factory. Barnack, Leitz, and Wetzlar would subsequently become synonymous with one of the world's most prestigious cameras, applauded for its quality engineering and superior optics.

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Ernst Leitz II (1871–1956) -

Ernst Leitz II (pictured) was the second son of the entrepreneur Ernst Leitz I. In 1869, Leitz senior established the Ernst Leitz–Optische Werke–Wetzlar company. The business specialized in producing top-grade research and binocular microscopes. Leitz junior joined the company as a partner in 1906, and became sole shareholder after his father's death in 1920.

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Anti-Semitism sweeps across Germany -

By the mid-1920s, a wave of anti-Semitism was sweeping across Germany. Demonstrations against Jews were taking place in Berlin and spreading daily throughout the entire country. Jewish residents were being assaulted and beaten up by mobs, many of the victims being arrested.

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Jewish employees at Leica -

Elsewhere, capitalizing on the success of the Leica I, the factory in Wetzlar was producing cameras as well as other optical instruments. Ernst Leitz honored his late father's company's social policy by founding an employee support and pension scheme and a company health insurance fund. He also offered lengthy apprenticeships and training programs at his facility to Jewish people.

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Hitler takes power -

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Jews found themselves further economically and socially marginalized by the Nazi regime. Leitz, meanwhile, enjoyed great public prestige as the manufacturer of the popular Leica. But he was increasingly alarmed by anti-Semitic vitriol being directed towards the Jews.

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Leitz's liberal politics -

Leitz was a leading democrat before the takeover of the country by the Nazis. He was a member of the left-liberal German Democratic Party (DDP)—later the German State Party—and of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (pictured), an organization for the defense of the Weimar Republic. As such, Leitz was particularly at risk for his political beliefs.

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Boycott of Jewish businesses -

In the weeks following Hitler's rise to power, members of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS) began pasting notices onto Jewish business, urging Germans to boycott Jewish shops. 

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Anti-Jewish sentiment spreads -

Anti-Jewish sentiment quickly spread beyond the capital. In Cologne, a banner stretched over a city street warned: "The one who buys at Jews' shops, betrays his people."

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Nuremberg Laws -

In September 1935, the Nazis issued the Nuremburg Laws, a series of anti-Semitic and racist decrees which had a crippling economic and social impact on the Jewish community. As non-Jews, Leitz and his family were unaffected by restrictions.

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Kristallnacht -

Three years later on November 9–10, 1938, systematic attacks on Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues took place across Germany in what became known as Kristallnacht ("Night of Broken Glass").

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Not supportive of the Third Reich -

Ernst Leitz feared for his Jewish employees, and for his company. Almost all German industrial giants endorsed National Socialism. Leica, on the other hand, did not stand out as an enterprise fully supportive of the Third Reich.

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Cameras of quality -

Back at the factory in Wetzlar, technical advances were being made in the manufacture of Leica cameras. Some of the era's most famous and influential photojournalists, including Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, were using Leica cameras to capture images that would become iconic visual documents of the period. The net, though, was closing in on Leica's Jewish workforce.

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Finding a way out -

Ernst Leitz recognized the horror about to visit his Jewish labor force. In response and at considerable risk to himself and at the risk of his company's prestige, Leitz began providing many of them with money and letters of recommendation to emigrate, especially to the United States.

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Arriving in New York City -

Employees, retailers, family members, even friends of family members were 'assigned' to Leitz sales offices in France, Britain, Hong Kong, and the US. German 'employees' arriving in New York after disembarking the SS Bremen were directed to Leitz's Manhattan office, where they were helped to find jobs.

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"Leica Freedom Train" -

In the United States, Leitz's smuggling out of Nazi Germany before the Holocaust of dozens of Jews became known as the "Leica Freedom Train."

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Seeking refuge in other cities -

London was among a handful of other cities that welcomed members of Leica's Jewish workforce. But the secretive eyes of the feared Gestapo were already focusing on Leitz staff activities.

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Optical illusion -

With the world now at war, the regime turned to Leica for production of vital optical instruments and equipment for use in the field, things like binocular periscopes and range finders. Historians have speculated that Leitz probably escaped detention because the German military relied on this hardware while the regime urgently needed hard currency from abroad, and Leitz's single biggest market for optical goods was the United States, at least up until the end of 1941.

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Himmler and the Gestapo -

The Gestapo, meanwhile, made its move. In 1938, Leitz company sales manager Alfred Türk was arrested for sending letters of recommendation to the New York branch for Jewish emigrants.

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Invasion of Poland -

After the invasion of Poland in September 1939, Germany sealed its borders. The Leica Freedom Train shuddered to a halt. In 1942 under threat of having his company taken over by the National Socialists, Ernst Leitz was forced to join the Nazi Party.

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Leitz's daughter arrested -

Then in 1943, Leitz's daughter, Elsie Kuehn-Leitz (pictured), was arrested for providing help to a Jewish woman from Wetzlar. She was eventually imprisoned in Frankfurt, but survived her ordeal.

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Capture of Leitz factory -

On April 4, 1945, American troops from the 1st Army entered Wetzlar. They inspected the Leitz factory, which was practically deserted save for batches of binoculars that were no longer needed.

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Employees detained -

Ernst Leitz, along with his sons, Ludwig and Günther, and those employees who hadn't fled from the advancing Americans, were detained. The factory was seized and any further production halted.

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Leitz was nearly murdered by the Nazis -

Ludwig Leitz (pictured) was photographed outside the Leica factory premises with an American military officer shortly afterwards. After the war, Ernst Leitz learned that he'd been singled out by the Nazis for execution for helping Jews evade capture.

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The lives saved -

Leitz provided valuable assistance to or saved the lives of at least 86 Jewish people between 1933 and 1945. His was a dangerous and selfless mission that he undertook at incredible risks for himself, his family, and his company.

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A national hero -

He died in 1956 at the age of 85. Few were aware of his heroic acts. It was only after the death of the last witness of that time that the story of the Leica Freedom Train was fully revealed.

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Pioneering figure -

Oskar Barnack died in 1936. As one of photography's great pioneering figures, his memory is honored by the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, which recognizes the world's very best and most accomplished photojournalists.

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The Leitz name lives on -

The busts of Oskar Barnack, Max Berek (developer of the earliest Leica lenses), Ernst Leitz I, Ernst Leitz II, and his grandson, Knut Kühn-Leitz, are on display at the Leica Camera complex in Wetzlar as a permanent reminder of an extraordinary chapter in the history of photography.

Sources: (Leica) (LFI) (World History Encyclopedia) (About Photography)

See also: Heroes of World War II—thrilling stories of courage and sacrifice that saved lives

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