Photographer and rabbi Frank Dabba Smith doesn’t believe in simple theories. “Black-and-white views don’t get anyone anywhere,” he says. This philosophy led him, even as a young man, to Germany—a country responsible for the death of his relatives in Poland, yet also the birthplace of his greatest passion: the Leica 35mm camera. Inspired by the story of Leica company boss Ernst Leitz II, who helped Jews in and around Wetzlar during the Nazi era, Frank eventually reached out to the Leitz family.

Among those saved by Leitz was the family of Frankfurt photo store owner Heinrich Ehrenfeld. After emigrating to the U.S. and changing their name to Enfield, the family’s granddaughter, Jill Enfield, became renowned worldwide for alternative photographic processes—and has collaborated with Frank for years.