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The Conundrum of 1939-41 Praktiflex imports into the United States &c


JDMvW

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The Conundrum of 1939-41 Praktiflex imports into the United States.

 

 

The Kine Exakta is arguably the first 35mm SLR, at least in terms of being something more than one-off "Sport", so to speak. It was introduced at the Spring Leipzig Fair of 1936

 

But its cost was 200,-- RM. ( 1938 2.49M=$1, depending on which measure, and Exakta in 2007 dollars would have cost about $2,500 for workingman's wages). This was expensive, and something cheaper was needed:

So in 1939,

 

"

After the Volkswagen and the Volksempfinger [radio], there was also a 'Volksreflex' for the Volksgenossen [=less 'Folk' than 'Racial' Comrades - JDM]
".

(Alexander Schultz 2002, Praktiflex. Lindemanns Verlag)

 

The cost was 98,-- RM, less than half the Exakta.

 

This was the Praktiflex from KW - and it was a perfect match for the Agfacolor film of 1938.

 

The original is NOT to be confused with KW's later reuse of the brand name for an export model of the later Praktica during a period of trademark confusion.

 

 

The camera was introduced at the Spring Leipzig Fair of 1939; the following September was the invasion of Poland.

 

Leipzig-Messe-12-pfg-stamp.jpg.991bb1e3576ca428cd1fb57d77b73839.jpg

1941 Leipzig Fair Commemorative

 

So the Praktiflex was marketed almost entirely after Germany, Britain, and France were at war. The naval forces of the various countries began military operations as soon as they could. The British, as they had done in WWI, began a blockade of German ports. There was not actually a lot of real fighting, and the period between late 1939 and the massive Blitzkrieg of 1940 was called the "Phony War" or "Sitzkrieg"

 

Now here's my question.

Given that there was a war going on, how did it happen that camera stores in the still-neutral USA. were marketing Praktiflex cameras from 1940 to 1941?

 

Bass-(Praktiflex)-1940-11-MP.jpg.34892b6c7133c11267f03134b462c232.jpg

Popular Photography 1940-11

 

The camera illustrated is a version 4 or later model (the first ones had Black Letter "Gothic" script, banned by Martin Bormann's edict of 3 January 1941when he was still secretary to Deputy Führer Hess.

 

Were the Praktiflexes sold by stores in Chicago, New York, and elsewhere in the US shipped in through neutral countries like Sweden?

 

And it was not just Praktiflexes, although they. particularly, are most clearly not "old, new stock" in warehouses in the US. Here is a Zeiss Ikon advertisement from December, 1941 from the offices of Zeiss Ikon (USA) in New York and Los Angeles:

 

/ Zeiss-Ikon-ad-1941-12-PP.jpg.ea22867d208c5647fd59e461976c455f.jpg

Popular Photography 1941-12

 

by neutral shipping, warehouses with conning towers? How did Axis goods make it into America through the British Blockade?

 

Is there anyone, any more, who actually knows?

Edited by JDMvW
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PS. Some German cameras continued to be offered new even after the USA was in the European war. After 1942, the vast majority of all cameras offered for sale were used.

 

As an additional note of interest, perhaps, some of the same dealers who sold German cameras into the war period, were also among the first to get new cameras from Germany after the end of WWII.

 

Some of the imported camera models from the Soviet-occupied zone were technically supposed to have been reserved for the USSR as war reparations.

Edited by JDMvW
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I was told.... Which you also can translate as: Maybe. The British got cameras from Germany in wartime through Portugal. Specifically Robot cameras for their warplanes and Leica cameras for war correspondents. I was also told they confiscated Leicas and Contaxes from the British public as well, but that numbers were apparently not high enough. They didn't like Contaxes (too complex, not reliable enough for war corespondents) and a lot of Contax lenses were modified to be used on Leicas.

If the Brits could do this during war time, I'm sure the USA could do this as well. The USA was after all still neutral in 39 and 40.

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I was told.... Which you also can translate as: Maybe. The British got cameras from Germany in wartime through Portugal. Specifically Robot cameras for their warplanes and Leica cameras for war correspondents. I was also told they confiscated Leicas and Contaxes from the British public as well, but that numbers were apparently not high enough. They didn't like Contaxes (too complex, not reliable enough for war corespondents) and a lot of Contax lenses were modified to be used on Leicas.

If the Brits could do this during war time, I'm sure the USA could do this as well. The USA was after all still neutral in 39 and 40.

The British didn't confiscate Leicas and Contaxes - they bought them. Wartime issues of photo magazines have wanted ads for these cameras.
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Interesting.

Since Schneider had a long-standing relationship with Kodak to supply lenses for its Retina camera series; I'm wondering if there could be some Kodak involvement in the "smuggling"?

 

Obviously, there would be no interference by the British with US shipping heading westward from neutral European or African ports.

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What am I missing?

 

Perhaps the Anglo -French blockade? LINK

 

Even in Neutral bottoms, ships were subject to searches for "contraband", and access to Neutrals like the US, often meant crossing hostile borders. Direct access to Iberia, for example, was difficult until after France was defeated.

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By 1947, a number of stores were again offering the Praktiflex (again not to be confused with the later reuse of the name for early Prakticas).

 

Most of these are marked "GERMANY" in the same hand:

 

Praktiflex-2-g-cursive-back.jpg.334312f75fe29822952abaaed3857cfe.jpg

Edited by JDMvW
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For what it is worth John Dulles worked for a very influential law firm which had some very important Nazi accounts who best interests were tended to up until 12/7/41. So, no I do not really know but not surprised that their were lots of people who had no problem doing business with Germany since we were not at war. I am sure Russia and Baltic countries would be glad to ship consumerr goods for them until june 22,1941. There was also Japan until 12/7 Edited by donald_miller|5
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