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.
In 2002, siblings Robert F. Kan and Betsy Klein donated this and other films (see more below) that capture vacations, daily activities, and other moments in their Dutch Jewish family's prewar life. They and their parents, Frits Kan and Jeanne (Bloch) Kan, escaped the Nazis by immigrating to the United States in May 1940. Robert's wife, Francisca Verdoner Kan, and her siblings also donated family films. Side view of a bus. Plaque:"Chur - Flims Wald Haus" Jeanne, Robert, and Betsy sit in the bus. People move luggage, seen from the rear of the bus. Robert in a lake wearing a hat and playing with an inflatable shark. He bobs the toy up and down in the water and waves. Shoreline with people. Large building, side of a steep hill covered with pine trees, trolley system on the hill going down to the lakeshore. Robert and Betsy sit on the shore with two other girls wearing hats. Jeanne poses with other women on a rock near the lake. Jeanne, Betsy and Robert swim. People in swimsuits sit in the grass, sunbathing. Pan. Kan family swims. 01:02:32 Color. Lake seen from a distant point on a hill. Shots of the lake as the cameraman takes the trolley to the shoreline. Betsy walks among other people on a small wooden bridge. She rubs her eyes. More color shots of the lake and surrounding landscape. Children sit on, and then dive off, a diving board. Betsy sits on a diving block and later jumps off a diving board. 01:04:02 MS, two young girls seen earlier sit with Robert and Betsy. Pan across the lake and trees, barely legible sign.
Kan family vacationing during summer in Switzerland