[Greatness and tribulations of Zeiss and Leitz, two famous German optic companies - I. Zeiss].

In a series of three articles, a parallel is drawn between the histories of the two most famous German optic companies, Zeiss and Leitz. Born in the middle of the 19th century, Zeiss went through National Socialism, World War II, partition and reunification of Germany. Archive documents abound, but a careful analysis is necessary to understand or guess the part played by the main actors, as Ernst Abbe, brilliant German physicist, or Küppenbender who eclipsed Emanuel Goldberg, a pioneer in information storage and retrieval. The reunification of Germany provided the opportunity for the reuniting of the eastern and western Carl Zeiss enterprises, creating a macro-economic shock, with radical change for the Carl Zeiss Jena company. Today, Carl Zeiss AG is a global leader in the optical and optoelectronic industry.