Leica Freedom Train Video / Must see

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I read this article some weeks ago -

 

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[Guest flatfour]

One has to be a trifle circumspect about the claims of many Germans to be anti Nazi and to have helped the Jews. I am not for one moment saying this about Leitz but, for example, one of the heads of Zeiss claimed he helped Jews but he was nevertheless a full member of the Nazi Party. Many Germans after the war claimed they became Nazis to be able to 'work' from within the organisation, In a great number of cases that was untrue and was simply an attempt to mitigate their wartime stance. Everyone after the war was anti Nazi but before and during the war most were pro Nazi. Try reading Diary of a man in Despair by Reck-Malleczewen

[jhild]

To flatfour and other experts,

 

you never had the experience of dictatorship and all the acoompanying individual trouble in your own country so you simply don´t know what you are talking about. Dictatorship in East Germany ended just a few years ago, have you ever been there talking to the people how they could make a good life or at least the best possible without beeing a party member?

One of my East German friends was called to the Stasi office immediatly after he had

finished university, he had to work with them or loose his future.

The same was true for Germany 1933 - 45, teachers had to be party members and everybody

else beeing in a public position as well.Not everybody had the nerves or the possibilities to

act undercover, the Gestapo was very real. Before you make silly statements like the one

above ask yourself what would you ´ve done living under conditions like that?

 

Jo

[larry]

To flatfour and other experts,

 

you never had the experience of dictatorship and all the acoompanying individual trouble in your own country so you simply don´t know what you are talking about.

 

Jo,

 

I couldn't agree more. My mother and her family were able to escape prewar Nazi Germany with the help of sympathetic friends and neighbors, as well as assistance from Leitz (as I've detailed in previous posts on this forum). Being an iconoclast in Nazi Germany wasn't just unfashionable, it was usually fatal. My mother, aunt and grandparents related many stories to me of how the Nazis made otherwise morally upstanding people grovel under their institutionalized insanity. Passing judgement on what people should have done in those times is nothing more than self-righteous second guessing.

 

Larry

[Guest flatfour]

jhild - Of course you are right about East Germany but, and I don't know how old you are, that was not so in Nazi Germany. Lots of people flatly refused to be members of the Nazi party. Indeed Leni Riefenstahl was not a member. I have met and talked with people who were in concentration camps and it was often the case that people became members of the Nazi party to improve their employment. But very,very few became Nazi party members to 'work from within' against the Nazis. It is easy to be misled by East German communism in your view of Nazism

[jhild]

To say it clear, I was born after WWII but was told a lot of stories from my own family how

difficult it was to get along.There were a lot of real believers, that is true. Many of them

denied after 1945 having been Nazis, some even got into gouvernment positions.

There is still a discussion about Leni Riefenstahl, whether she was pro, contra or just very

happy to shoot the movies she did at that time. Some people like Leitz might have been

untouchable even for the Nazi, who will ever really know.This discussion could go on forever

but there will be no final conclusion.

Flatfour´s comment was just a bit to "in general" for me...

 

Jo

[Talus]

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Jo,

 

Passing judgement on what people should have done in those times is nothing more than self-righteous second guessing.

 

Larry

 

I couldn't agree more. There is absolutely no way to evaluate what you would have done in that situation.

 

Thanks for the video. I didn't know that & am that much happier knowing that I'm supporting a fine heritage.