Carl Laemmle, born on January 17, 1867 in Laupheim, emigrated to the USA at the age of 17 after the death of his mother. In Chicago, he got by with odd jobs in the first few years before becoming manager of a clothing wholesaler in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1894.
In Chicago, he bought his first Nickelodeon, a small cinema, in 1906 and founded a film distribution company in the same year. His unusual and eye-catching advertising campaigns brought him an ever-growing clientele, so that within two years he not only owned 50 cinemas, but also became the largest film distributor in the USA.
In 1912, he founded the Universal Film Studios on the site of an old chicken farm outside Los Angeles. The studio site became the nucleus of a new district: Hollywood. Here, the film pioneer produced well over 9,000 films, including well-known masterpieces such as “Frankenstein”, “Dracula” with Bela Lugosi and the Oscar-winning film “All Quiet on the Western Front”. He created the new art form of feature film and was the first to build actors into public stars.
As the founder of Hollywood, as a dream manufacturer with a market instinct, Carl Laemmle wrote film history.
Carl Laemmle proved himself to be a humanist throughout his life. In his hometown of Laupheim, he set up a foundation for the poor in the years following the First World War and played a key role in the building of numerous public institutions. During the Great Depression, he organized fundraising for his hometown and regularly gave generous donations to Laupheim. “Uncle Carl” was made an honorary citizen of the city in 1919 and a street was named after him.
But in the 1930s, National Socialists began to systematically dismantle Carl Laemmle’s reputation and everything that reminded him of the American patron. His films were banned, cinema screenings were stormed, he lost his honorary citizenship and the street in Laupheim was also renamed.
In contrast to the heads of other studios, Laemmle was horrified by Hitler’s rise to power and determined to bring people to safety from the Nazi regime. After 1936, he saved the lives of hundreds of persecuted Jews. He issued so-called affidavits that authorized entry into the USA. He saved more than 300 Jews from death with these personal guarantees.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Carl Laemmle died in his villa in Hollywood.
Source: City of Laupheim
