Born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Robert Kan and his family escaped the Nazis on May 13, 1940 and emigrated to Queens, New York via the Dutch East Indies. He received a BA in Economics from Hofstra Univeristy and worked for thirty years for the US government at the Department of Commerce, the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Science Foundation, and the American Embassy in Tokyo. After retiring from the government, he became a Certified Financial Planner. He was a lifelong Boy Scout and accomplished philatelist. He was married for 58 years to Francisca Verdoner Kan and had three daughters, Jeanette, Susan, and Eleanor.
St. Moritz was the site of the 1928 Winter Olympics and later hosted the winter games again in 1948, the first city to host the Olympics following World War II.
"Onze reis naar St. Moritz Januari 193" [Our travel to St. Moritz January 1933] Sign for"Chur" a city in eastern Switzerland, in a train station. Jeanne in a fur coat, large cart of luggage in BG. Swiss Alps. Camera pans across the words"St. Moritz 193" drawn in the snow. View from a sleigh, horse pulling the sleigh seen at right. Wooded mountains and telephone poles in BG. Mountains, trees, and buildings from the sleigh. Another sleigh passes to the left. Pan from people walking in front of a building to the valley and mountains. 01:02:32 Jeanne looks at the mountains and turns to the camera squinting her eyes from the sun. Jeanne walks up a snowy incline. She turns and looks at the camera. Pan across landscape. 01:03:10 Frits eats in a chair. People sunbathing. More scenic shots including the town. Jeanne walks towards the camera with her parents. Jeanne, arm in arm, with her mother. 01:05:01 People skating on an ice rink. Jeanne and her mother sleep (sitting in a sleigh?). Mountain. 01:06:41 People walk up the snowy slope towards the camera. Trolley/train goes over a bridge. Jeanne and her parents sit in a sleigh. CUs, Jeanne's parents. Mountains. 01:08:29 Jeanne skates with a man. Group poses. Jeanne and a man walk down a snow mound, the man sits and slides down the hill. 01:09:52 Something written in the snow, it is unclear, a can is next to the word. Jeanne and two friends walk towards the camera. Mountains. 01:10:35 Frits and same two friends walk down a cleared path in the snow. 01:11:05 Sleigh races from audience stands. Jeanne walks toward the camera. Horse races and crowds.
Kan family vacationing during winter in Switzerland