ERNST LEITZ II

Ernst Leitz II (1871 – 1956), son of the founder and head of the Ernst Leitz’s optics company from 1920 until his death, was one of the most important entrepreneurs’ personality of the German precision and optical goods industry. His decision to actually produce the first practical 35 mm camera that used standard cinema 35 mm film in 1924 was groundbreaking, especially considering the really bad economical circumstances after the hyperinflation. This gutsy decision not only meant to build a new “Small Film Camera” but it was also a decision to introduce a completely new photographical system from the shot to the play back. It was an immediate success when introduced at the 1925 Leipzig Spring Fair as the Leica I (for Leitz camera).

The author, his grand-child Knut Kuehn-Leitz, not only describes his grand-dad as an exemplary businessman with a heart and a vision who’s company had a tradition of enlightened behaviour toward his workers, but also as a man with unequalled social engagement. Together with his daughter Elsie Kuehn-Leitz, he responded to the election of Hitler in 1933 by helping Jews to leave Germany, by “assigning” hundreds (even if they were not actually employees) to overseas sales offices where they were helped to find jobs. The extent of what came to be called the

 “Leica Freedom Train” only became public

after his death well after the war.

This book tells the fascinating story of a

man and its many facets who has written 

German economic history.