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I found some old movies on Youtube today, which might be of interest of historically-minded forum members:

 

 

Ernst Leitz Optische Werke Wetzlar

 

Although not by Barnack, this mostly shows the manufacture of microscopes, but a sequence near the end shows Leica manufacturing.

 

 

 

Hochwasser in Wetzlar

 

Filmed by Oskar Barnack, this shows the well-known flood in Wetzlar.

 

 

 

Ukrainer in Wetzlar

 

Another film by Barnack. It shows a large formation of Ukrainian soldiers forming up and marching off. Presumably these were part of the allied occupation forces after the First World War.

 

 

 

Unsere heimkehrenden Kriegsgefangenen, Wetzlar 1919

(Our returning prisoners of war, Wetzlar 1919)

 

Taken by Barnack at Wetzlar station, this shows the return of German soldiers who had been prisoners of war.

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

Doug

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Germany was not occupied at the end of WWI at it was in WWII (there is a line in the movie Casablanca which gives the thought that the US marched into Berlin in 1918... hogwash) but there were several areas administered by allied powers or the League of Nations The Ukrainian troops in Barnack's movies are probably Imperial German regulars from the Ukraine.

 

David.

in ww2 the Russian Cossacks who fought for Hitler were shipped back to Stalin with predictable results.

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  • 10 years later...

Barnack's Cine Camera as it is currently displayed in the Ernst Leitz Museum. I think I am right in saying that Malcom Taylor repaired this one and there are photos of him testing it on a beach in England. 

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The scene with the boats is the same one that Barnack photographed with the UR-Leica or another prototype in 1920. The still image is higher quality and is taken from a slightly different position.

As for the people pouring out the factory gate, I walked past that gate when I was in Wetzlar last October and it is still recognisbale. Two things to note (a) the people are all very well dressed coming out of the gate on both dates but (b) in 1915 all of the men wore hats, whereas the women did not. Also in the view from the nearby corner which is still there, there is a woman apparently waiting on 'her man' and when she sees him she goes over to greet him. A job at Leitz must have been highly prized back then. The brief camera manufacturing scene was at the latest from 1931.

I must look for those Viewfinder articles by Doug in the LHSA Archive. 

William 

 

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The corner which appears in the 1915 film. The 'bridge' appears in the 1953 film and these are the factory gates as they are today. They are perhaps a bit close up in my photos, but they are recognisable compared to what I saw last year. 

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Tim Pullmann confirmed that this building is now used only for the micro-systems (microscopes etc) and that no cameras or photographic lenses are made there. That is all concentrated in Leitz-Park and Portugal. It is, however, a substantial and well maintained building with an imposing presence near to the centre of Wetzlar.

The late Philip Ramsden, a Leitz employee and a long time LHSA member, had this article about the old factory published in Macfilos just before he passed away late last year. I was glad to have been able to help him with this. We will remember him at the LHSA AGM in Dublin next October. He was both a kind and a learned man who is sorely missed. 

https://www.macfilos.com/2021/11/12/ernst-leitz-wetzlar-in-1985-a-visit-to-the-old-factory/

William 

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