willeica Posted April 29, 2024 Share #41 Posted April 29, 2024 Advertisement (gone after registration) 1 minute ago, Gary Schulz said: It has been my impression that Lt. Paul Snyder was another member of the same team of individuals (along with my uncle) assigned to this duty at Wetzlar post war. Could be that all the team members bought equipment around the same time and all had that same personalized engraving done?? It would be incredible to find information on Lt Snyder and his involvement here. What an amazing coincidence! I'll snd this to Bill. William Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 29, 2024 Posted April 29, 2024 Hi willeica, Take a look here New to Forum. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Gary Schulz Posted April 29, 2024 Author Share #42 Posted April 29, 2024 7 hours ago, willeica said: Yes , you can. I found 70 year old film in a Leica FILCA cassette and with advice from an expert friend I developed some negatives. One hour stand development with diluted developer if I remember correctly. I wrote an article about it and another friend who is Picture Editor at the BBC put it on their website. It then went viral during the first Winter of Covid and appeared in the New York Times and CNN etc , eventually getting about 5-6 million reads https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-54175441 https://www.macfilos.com/2020/09/11/swiss-roll-hidden-for-70-years-these-photographs-were-recovered-from-an-ancient-leica-film-cassette/ https://www.macfilos.com/2020/12/22/swiss-roll-the-facts-of-the-70-year-old-photo-mystery-as-we-now-know-them/ My advice is to go to an expert person with the rolls and explain all of the facts as you know them. Do not hand these into a regular lab for processing. Let us know how you get on. Given their age and provenance these could contain interesting material. William William, many thanks for the guidance. I am not aware of any traditional photography experts anymore. Back when I was a kid I knew of a couple folks who were deeply into developing negatives and would certainly have qualified as experts but they have long since passed... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
beoon Posted April 30, 2024 Share #43 Posted April 30, 2024 Here is an article from the LSI Viewfinder archives regarding Paul Snyder. Will try and find the article with his engraved camera regards Alan Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 2 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/393405-new-to-forum/?do=findComment&comment=5232417'>More sharing options...
Anbaric Posted April 30, 2024 Share #44 Posted April 30, 2024 On 4/25/2024 at 2:26 AM, Gary Schulz said: The camera was custom engraved at the factory with my uncles name on the back so I suppose that made it less collectible. Incidentally, I imagine a camera with a factory engraving, documentation, and an interesting story like this would be more collectable rather than less. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted April 30, 2024 Share #45 Posted April 30, 2024 13 hours ago, Gary Schulz said: William, many thanks for the guidance. I am not aware of any traditional photography experts anymore. Back when I was a kid I knew of a couple folks who were deeply into developing negatives and would certainly have qualified as experts but they have long since passed... If you are in Chicago, have a word with my good friend Dan Tamarkin who runs the Leica Store there. He should know who is an expert in film development in that part of the world. Bill Rosauer lives just outside Chicago. I sent him an email last night about Lt Paul Snyder. If he does not get back I can ask Jim Lager, but Bill has that family connection going back to the US Military in Wetzlar in the 1940s. William Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Schulz Posted April 30, 2024 Author Share #46 Posted April 30, 2024 2 hours ago, beoon said: Here is an article from the LSI Viewfinder archives regarding Paul Snyder. Will try and find the article with his engraved camera regards Alan Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! My uncle also had a 135mm Hektor with his name engraved as shown in this picture!. He had two large Leica leather cases that contained all the lenses and accessories that he apparently purchased. I am unsure if the receipts I have are complete because he also had a Thanbar and reflex finder/viewer (if that's the right term) among many other items. This brief story sheds a little more light on what was happening at Wetzlar at this time and it certainly looks like multiple members who were assigned to this duty, post liberation, either were or quickly became photographic enthusiasts. Must have been a very interesting assignment! By the way, the receipt I have from Lt. Snyder is a photograph of the original. I suspect that Sgt. Hickman must have traded something to Lt. Snyder for the finder I currently have. Interesting how events that occurred nearly 80 years ago can still be pieced together... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Schulz Posted April 30, 2024 Author Share #47 Posted April 30, 2024 Advertisement (gone after registration) 31 minutes ago, willeica said: If you are in Chicago, have a word with my good friend Dan Tamarkin who runs the Leica Store there. He should know who is an expert in film development in that part of the world. Bill Rosauer lives just outside Chicago. I sent him an email last night about Lt Paul Snyder. If he does not get back I can ask Jim Lager, but Bill has that family connection going back to the US Military in Wetzlar in the 1940s. William My daughters live in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago which is only a few blocks away from Dan's store. I will make it a point to stop in there... Always interested to see if we can find further information on the activities at Wetzlar during this period. Appreciate you helping to research this. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Analog_gamer Posted May 2, 2024 Share #48 Posted May 2, 2024 (edited) ***disregard this post, I thought it was referring to “new forum members”*** New to Leica and now this forum. Leica iiif black dial with Summitar 50mm f2 lens. Found this a few weeks ago and have already ran three rolls of film through it. Picked up a few Leica film canisters (Filca) and going to start using bulk rolls in order to get out and take more pictures. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Edited May 2, 2024 by Analog_gamer Mistake. Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/393405-new-to-forum/?do=findComment&comment=5243046'>More sharing options...
derleicaman Posted May 2, 2024 Share #49 Posted May 2, 2024 (edited) Sorry I came late to this thread. William suggested that my dad was involved with the US Occupation of the Leitz Wetzlar plant. Here is the short story of what my dad was actually doing in Germany at the time. My dad went into the Army in the summer of 1945. He was trained as a photographer and assigned to Army Ordnance, which had its HQ at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. He was sent from there to Germany in early 1946, to document the demilitarization (destruction) of the vast amount of military equipment left in Germany with his 4x5 camera. He sent his negs back to the Pentagon to prove that the commanding officer, Gen. Ford was doing his job supervising this. He was headquartered at the former IG Farben offices in Frankfurt, which became the SHAEF HQ with Eisenhower in command. This is a picture of my dad in his office going over some pictures from a wedding he shot of a US Officer there. This was a side-line job. At some point, he decided he wanted a Leica camera. It was virtually impossible to get one from the PX, where they had a lottery for them. My dad explained that most of the Leicas went to officers, and he felt the process was "fixed". So he tried many other avenues to get one. Years later, when my dad met Walter Heun, they swapped stories of black market trading in the Wetzlar area. My dad also met a ex-German general in his quest, and they went to Haus Friedwart to try and get one. Elsie shouted down from the second floor, "Tell them to go away, we have no Leicas here!". Years later, I told this story to my friend Knut Kuhn-Leitz (Elsie's son) who was living at Haus Friedwart at that time my dad knocked on the door. One time my dad and I were visiting Wetzlar and we went up to Haus Friedwart, but no one was home. Years later, I have been inside the Haus many times, and always wish my dad could have seen this. In 2019, Knut gave me and my group a personal tour of the house. My dad also went so far as to track down Dr. Paul Wolff, who at the time was living in Braunfels Castle outside of Wetzlar, as his house in Frankfurt had been bombed. He did manage to obtain a 9cm Elmar from him, which I still have in my collection. That was quite a story as well. Bottom line is my dad was not directly involved with the factory in Wetzlar, but did spend some time in the area on numerous occasions and came into contact with people like Elsie Kuhn-Leitz and Dr. Paul Wolff in his travels. He also instilled a life-long love, respect and passion for Leica, the Leitz family and Wetzlar in me. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Edited May 2, 2024 by derleicaman 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/393405-new-to-forum/?do=findComment&comment=5244405'>More sharing options...
alan mcfall Posted May 2, 2024 Share #50 Posted May 2, 2024 I have the Paul Snyder Xenon lens that Lager shows in his article. Serial 491729. Seems someone was just selling them off and not attempting to keep all the items together, which would have been nice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted May 2, 2024 Share #51 Posted May 2, 2024 6 hours ago, derleicaman said: Sorry I came late to this thread. William suggested that my dad was involved with the US Occupation of the Leitz Wetzlar plant. Here is the short story of what my dad was actually doing in Germany at the time. My dad went into the Army in the summer of 1945. He was trained as a photographer and assigned to Army Ordnance, which had its HQ at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. He was sent from there to Germany in early 1946, to document the demilitarization (destruction) of the vast amount of military equipment left in Germany with his 4x5 camera. He sent his negs back to the Pentagon to prove that the commanding officer, Gen. Ford was doing his job supervising this. He was headquartered at the former IG Farben offices in Frankfurt, which became the SHAEF HQ with Eisenhower in command. This is a picture of my dad in his office going over some pictures from a wedding he shot of a US Officer there. This was a side-line job. At some point, he decided he wanted a Leica camera. It was virtually impossible to get one from the PX, where they had a lottery for them. My dad explained that most of the Leicas went to officers, and he felt the process was "fixed". So he tried many other avenues to get one. Years later, when my dad met Walter Heun, they swapped stories of black market trading in the Wetzlar area. My dad also met a ex-German general in his quest, and they went to Haus Friedwart to try and get one. Elsie shouted down from the second floor, "Tell them to go away, we have no Leicas here!". Years later, I told this story to my friend Knut Kuhn-Leitz (Elsie's son) who was living at Haus Friedwart at that time my dad knocked on the door. One time my dad and I were visiting Wetzlar and we went up to Haus Friedwart, but no one was home. Years later, I have been inside the Haus many times, and always wish my dad could have seen this. In 2019, Knut gave me and my group a personal tour of the house. My dad also went so far as to track down Dr. Paul Wolff, who at the time was living in Braunfels Castle outside of Wetzlar, as his house in Frankfurt had been bombed. He did manage to obtain a 9cm Elmar from him, which I still have in my collection. That was quite a story as well. Bottom line is my dad was not directly involved with the factory in Wetzlar, but did spend some time in the area on numerous occasions and came into contact with people like Elsie Kuhn-Leitz and Dr. Paul Wolff in his travels. He also instilled a life-long love, respect and passion for Leica, the Leitz family and Wetzlar in me. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Thanks, Bill. What I was saying, in an awkward way, was that your father was with the US Forces in Germany after the war and visited Wetzlar during that time, which seems to be the case. I had heard the story about Elsie before from you. Gary is trying to find out more about Lt Paul Snyder. Alan McFall has one of the Paul Snyder Xenon lenses shown by Jim Lager in an article. Would Jim know anything about Snyder? William Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Schulz Posted May 2, 2024 Author Share #52 Posted May 2, 2024 (edited) So it is now clear to me that my uncle reported to Lt Snyder who was the CO for this effort at Wetzlar and he was most likely tasked with taking inventory of all the tools and facilities at Leitz. My uncle was apparently a T/5 “sergeant” (a temporary rank for someone with some particular technical expertise but without the authority of an actual sergeant!) who had experience as a machinist/tool maker prior to the war. From what has been posted in this thread, it looks as though they were a bit fortunate to be inside Leica/Leitz in 1945/6 which offered them good access to cameras, lenses and accessories which were apparently fairly sought after immediately post-war. As far as family involvement in the war, my uncle E. Ford Hickman (subject of the thread) was originally from the Chicago area and he was married to my fathers eldest sister. My dad, Eugene A Schulz was drafted in 1943 and wound up enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering program at the University of Michigan based on testing done during the intake process. He was sent to college during the war under the auspices of the ASTP program( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Specialized_Training_Program )which took in many of the recruits who tested highly and put them in college where they were supposed to graduate as Doctors, Engineers etc with the rank of 1st Lt. Instead, halfway through the process, they cancelled the program and he went from Ann Arbor to Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge as a Staff Sergeant. Dad saw plenty of action and wound up with a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. My dad also had two other brothers in the war; my uncle Howard who was in the D-day landings (Silver Star award) and my uncle Bud who was in the pacific theater where he flew C-47’s across the “Hump” in Burma. My dad stayed on after the war as well and supervised the repatriation of many German POW's and generally tried to keep things in order keeping Soviet forces and others from killing each other (lot's of sobering stories...) All I can say is my Grandmother was very lucky to see everyone come back alive after the war! Edited May 2, 2024 by Gary Schulz 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Schulz Posted May 3, 2024 Author Share #53 Posted May 3, 2024 I do have additional documentation relating to what the US forces found at Leitz in terms of tools/assets etc. It may be a rather dry subject so I am not sure if this is the right place to post that information. Any thoughts on the relevance and appropriateness to this forum? Basically it would be the contents of my uncle's small notebook describing everything they found on a floor-by floor and building-by-building basis... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted May 3, 2024 Share #54 Posted May 3, 2024 17 minutes ago, Gary Schulz said: I do have additional documentation relating to what the US forces found at Leitz in terms of tools/assets etc. It may be a rather dry subject so I am not sure if this is the right place to post that information. Any thoughts on the relevance and appropriateness to this forum? Basically it would be the contents of my uncle's small notebook describing everything they found on a floor-by floor and building-by-building basis... That sounds very interesting. If the material is very extensive you could post a few representative samples. William Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted May 3, 2024 Share #55 Posted May 3, 2024 2 hours ago, Gary Schulz said: I do have additional documentation relating to what the US forces found at Leitz in terms of tools/assets etc. It may be a rather dry subject so I am not sure if this is the right place to post that information. Any thoughts on the relevance and appropriateness to this forum? Basically it would be the contents of my uncle's small notebook describing everything they found on a floor-by floor and building-by-building basis... If you have surfed just a bit in our Forum, you have surely realized what kind of passionates we are (and with several real experts on the matter) 🙂 : ANY original document are always welcome, and yours is really a very interesting story. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
derleicaman Posted May 3, 2024 Share #56 Posted May 3, 2024 2 hours ago, Gary Schulz said: I do have additional documentation relating to what the US forces found at Leitz in terms of tools/assets etc. It may be a rather dry subject so I am not sure if this is the right place to post that information. Any thoughts on the relevance and appropriateness to this forum? Basically it would be the contents of my uncle's small notebook describing everything they found on a floor-by floor and building-by-building basis... Hello Gary, I would love to see this documentation. We should also explore the possibility of scanning the documents to add to the LSI database, which we could then share with the Archiv in Wetzlar. Please DM me. Bill 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Schulz Posted May 5, 2024 Author Share #57 Posted May 5, 2024 Here are a few sample pages from the little notebook regarding the inventory of machine tools and raw materials the US forces encountered at Leitz just after the war. Sorry for the crude pictures but sometime when I get a chance, I will scan the entire contents of the notebook in better detail. It looks like there are around 25 pages of material/tools that were noted during this assessment. Other pages in the notebook describe notes on directions to getting to various German towns and surveys of arms etc... Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/393405-new-to-forum/?do=findComment&comment=5252151'>More sharing options...
Gary Schulz Posted May 5, 2024 Author Share #58 Posted May 5, 2024 Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 2 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/393405-new-to-forum/?do=findComment&comment=5252152'>More sharing options...
Gary Schulz Posted May 5, 2024 Author Share #59 Posted May 5, 2024 Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/393405-new-to-forum/?do=findComment&comment=5252153'>More sharing options...
Gary Schulz Posted May 5, 2024 Author Share #60 Posted May 5, 2024 Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/393405-new-to-forum/?do=findComment&comment=5252154'>More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now