1939 Letter from Leitz NY

[Trius]

A friend of mine sent me a digi-snap of a letter sent by Leitz in NY to a camera shop, in 1939. My friend's neighbour across the street had owned the camera shop, and it was his father who owned it at the time of the letter. So this is just a bit of historical trivia/nostalgia that I thought poignant.

 

[trph_2000]

A very interesting and historically valuable document. Note that it was written
a few days after the German invasion of Poland and the "official " start of WWII.

 

[RML]

"...due to the current European crisis..." that's a bit of an understatement, isn't it, considering the world went up in flames not long after this letter was written? 🙂

 

[juhor]

That's an interesting piece of history! Did Leica export cameras during world war 2? What models were produced at that time? (I don't know much about Leicas 🙂

 

[LeicaTom]

That`s alot like the announcement Leitz New York made in the September 1939 issue of LEICA PHOTOGRAPHY *in the front of the issue* here is a excerpt ;

We suspend publication

At present, world political events have been so fashioned that practical necessites
must replace our enthusiasm.
We find ourselves in a position wherby it is not possible to publish Leica Photography.
It is therefore temporarily suspended with this issue.
We are, however, going to keep in touch with our Leica family through a bulletin of Leica news which will be issued from time to time, until various factors permit Leica Photography to be published again.

______________________________________

A handful of bulletins were issued during the war but, Leica Photography did`nt restart publication until well after the war (1948)

 

[rolleistef]

Mostly Leica standards IIc and IIIc, for military use (the famous "red curtain" leicas, but also the Heer,Luftwaffe and Marine cameras), as well as military lenses for aerial photography. they didn't export cameras at that time (of course) even though the two camps used such cameras. The british army borrowed cameras from the civilians with the warranty that they would be given back once the war's finished, what they did most of the time. A lot of war photographer used a leica, Seymour, Capa (along with a Contax, which was much more rugged). You may ask "why not Cartier-Bresson?" Because he had escaped a prisonner camp in Germany and he had better not having his work in a newspaper... (he was said to be dead and the Moma organised a "posthume" exhibition in his memory...)

 

[John Shriver]

E. Leitz NY also made some products to fill the gap of what could not be imported. Simple things like filters and hoods. They also supplied Wollensak lenses in LTM mount, like the Velostigmat.

 

[John Robertson]

Hello, Stephane,

Leitz during the WW2, DID export Leica cameras,and Italy and Sweden (a neutral country in WW2) took delivery of Leica cameras from Germany.
It is known that new Leica IIIc cameras procured via Sweden were flown to England during the middle period of the war in the same Mosquito aircraft that was transporting ballbearings from Sweden, and were issued to the Royal Navy and these cameras were engraved with the Royal Navy marking "PATT 8665".A photography of one of these cameras is illustrated in "Leica- The First Fifty Years by G.Rogliatti" with typical engraving "PATT 8665" on Leica IIIc serial no. 374416 produced 1941/42.

Regards,William

Leica cameras and parts for M O D use also came into Britain via the "Shetland Bus"
This was a clandestine ferry service between Norway and Scotland run throughout the war using trawlers crewed by some very brave men.

 

[reagan]

Interesting thread. Thanks Trius and all.

 

[Marc-A.]

Interesting thread. Thanks Trius and all.

Nothing to add. Thanks for this interesting thread.

 

[jarski]

thanks for the post. that was September 1939.

"...due to the current European crisis..." that's a bit of an understatement, isn't it, considering the world went up in flames not long after this letter was written? 🙂

understatement may it be, but its good to remember those were ordinary people living at their days just you and I currently. little did I know 2003 that US invasion to Iraq would last (to current day) pretty close to what whole WWII lasted.

back then, times before WWII, it was not some majestic global theatre of war as we see it now. it was series of actions, led to other actions. thats how people then saw it.

 

[charjohncarter]

Trius, I guess they had to wait until after 1945. Too sad (For everybody and I'm, especially, including my uncle).

 

[Santafecino]

A related story from a time of many agonies is the program by Leitz Wetzlar to place Jewish employees and families in foreign offices of E. Leitz based on asserted international trade needs. Lives were saved.

 

[John Robertson]

A related story from a time of many agonies is the program by Leitz Wetzlar to place Jewish employees and families in foreign offices of E. Leitz based on asserted international trade needs. Lives were saved.

Yes and I believe that Lotte Kuhn Leitz spent time as a "guest" of the Gestapo because of this!!

 

[sienarot]

Wow, that's very cool!

 

[Trius]

I'm not sure if Camera Craft ever got a Leitz dealership. I'll ask.

 

[John Robertson]

I'm sure they were still at that address in the early 70's when I worked, in that area of London, for the Inland Revenue. I got them to check my Leica 11.
The other camera inporter I visited in London at that time were T.O.E. the Zenith/ Zorki / Fed people. They were really helpful and completely rebuilt my Zenith C, and charged me nothing for the work. I gave the Russian mechanic a bottle of Scotch which pleased him enormously!!! Happy days!!!

 

[ZorkiKat]

My current shooter Leica is a IIIc from 1943. It's a few hundred numbers shy of the famed red-shutter/K types. The chrome finish on the body is not too good. I got it in a very terrible state- dried broken shutters and no vulcanite at all. It's the first Leica I ever repaired (and the only one which I will dare to, I hope).

 

[350D_user]

Further to this, I noticed the post-war editions of "British Journal Photographic Almanac" have no references to Leica in any way. Minox, Reid, and Corfield get shown, in the 1954 edition... hmm.

 

[Xmas]

There was a quarantine on imports and rationing for a long time after the end of WWII.

I think sugar was rationed until '52, I can recall not being able to buy some sweets.

AP articles from the late 50 spoke about the influx of Ja gear because of the lifting of import restrictions.

It was not just cameras that were handed in, aluminium pots and pans were handed in, iron railings were requisioned.

When they were considering invading N Africa all the holiday photos over a much larger area were requested... The intelligence people were swamped with sandy beach shots

Noel