“作為一個德國企業,Leica在二戰時期名義上是納粹政府的重要合作夥伴,當時的Leica主席——Ernst Leitz二世卻在暗中不斷幫助猶太人逃離納粹的魔掌。從Adolf Hitler 1933年成為德國總理大臣開始,Ernst Leitz二世便不斷接到來自猶太員工的電話,請求他幫助自己全家離開德國。
”After the war, Elsie Kuhn-Leitz received numerous honors for her humanitarian efforts, among them the Officier d'honneur des Palmes Académiques from France in 1965 and the Aristide Briand Medal from the European Academy in the 1970s and Courage to Care Award from the Anti-Defamation League. According to Norman Lipton, a freelance writer and editor, the Leitz family wanted no publicity for its heroic efforts. Only after the last member of the Leitz family was dead did the "Leica Freedom Train" finally come to light. It is the subject of a book, The Greatest Invention of the Leitz Family: The Leica Freedom Train (American Photographic Historical Society, New York, 2002) by Frank Dabba Smith, a California-born rabbi currently living in England. In 2007, Ernst Leitz II was awarded posthumously the Courage To Care Award by the Anti-Defamation League.[5]“