L.A. Welcomes a Camera Maker Fleeing Nazis

Name: L.A. Welcomes a Camera Maker Fleeing Nazis
Uploaded: 2020-12-18
Duration: 97603
Description: In 1938, a German-Jewish businessman, Benno Thorsch, traded his camera factory in Dresden for a new life in Detroit and, later, Los Angeles. With the rise of the Third Reich, it was a move that almost certainly saved his family’s life from the Nazis. And as a young boy, Steven Spielberg would even visit the camera shop in Studio City, California.

In 1938, a German-Jewish businessman, Benno Thorsch, traded his camera factory in Dresden for a new life in Detroit and, later, Los Angeles. With the rise of the Third Reich, it was a move that almost certainly saved his family’s life from the Nazis. And as a young boy, Steven Spielberg would even visit the camera shop in Studio City, California. (01:37)

Smithsonian Channel