1. In the Carl Laemmle commemorative year 2017, the 150th anniversary of his birth, the charismatic Uncle Carl is receiving considerable attention for his work and impact as a successful Hollywood pioneer and the founder of Universal Studios, as well as for his humanitarian engagement. Both Laemmle's life and films are intimately tied to the political situation through which he lived. Drawing upon letters from the National Archives in Washington D.C., Udo Bayer's book documents how Carl Laemmle untiringly employed his influence, money, power and energy to provide hundreds of persecuted German Jews with affadavits and thus save them from the Nazi-regime. Already published in Germany in 1996 and the USA in 1998, the Carl Laemmle commemorative year 2017 provides the occasion for this book to be brought to public attention once more. Carl Laemmle's exceptional humanitarian dedication in the interwar years, in particular in the 1930's, attests to his deep compassion for the Jews in Germany and his selfless readiness to help them.

Udo Bayer (November 23rd, 1943 - September 25th, 2015) was born in HechingenHohenzollern, where he attended the local high school. A lifelong artist since his childhood, Bayer studied history, political science and German literature in Tübingen, Munich and Berlin. In 1969, he began as a teacher in training at a high school in Laupheim, where he continued to teach until his retirement in 2008, serving as assistant director from 1989 on. He received his PhD in philosophy in 1975 under the supervision of Max Bense and Elisabeth Walther-Bense in Stuttgart, publishing numerous articles on Charles S. Peirce's semiotics. His chief interest lay, until his death in 2015, in the city-history of Laupheim. In particular, it was the native Laupheimer, Carl Laemmle, whose success story and humanitarian engagement captivated Udo Bayer's interest as a historian. Thanks to Bayer's initiative, the local high school had its name changed to Carl-Laemmle High School in 1993, something which proved to be an important step in re-establishing trust in the Laemmle family. In addition, Udo Bayer was a founding father of the Society for History and Commemoration, whose involvement was important for the construction of a museum for Christians and Jews in Laupheim. His personal contact to the descendents of persecuted Jewish refugees made possible numerous publications in memory of the former Jewish community in Laupheim.This comprehensive biography is based on 25 years of meticulous research on Carl Laemmle, in particular, Bayer's intensive personal exchange with the Laemmle family and their relatives, as well as research in various archives and contact to historians in Laemmle's house, Beverly Hills, California Germany, the USA, Israel and Japan.