Leica cameras and lenses are often considered precise, effective, and well-built: the epitome of photographic form and function…while some perceive the company and it’s products as overpriced, inflated, and overrated. Perhaps the following story about the “Leica Freedom Train” will have some readers acknowledging Leica and it’s founder, Ernst Leitz II, as symbols of humanity in our people’s history.

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. (more…)