Britta Lion Franz spoke at the chamber’s Dec. 6 Forum Lunch about how her family lost nearly everything to the Nazis, never receiving compensation for either their home or their clothing store, both of which they’d sold.
The documentary film of Franz’s story, “Shattered: Journey Into A Silent Past” made by a filmmaker in Vienna, Austria, who is a descendent of the man who purchased their fashion store in Krefeld, Germany. He tracked Franz down in Salem, and made the film, which relates the story of the Lion family’s troubles with the Nazis, their escape from Germany, and how they ended up in Klamath Falls, where Franz’s father Curt Lion was able to purchase a fashion store, LaPointe’s, which eventually grew into four other stores in addition to the anchor store in Klamath Falls. Franz managed all of the stores until they were closed in 1987.