Another Contax I with history

[botty]

Taken from a German soldier called Walter Majewski 12th May 1945, the case is half of a German army cavalry bag. It came with viewfinders for the 135mm, filters, service tools for the camera. I would love to know more history about this camera.

Sadly the shutter tapes are gone and it is waiting it line at zeisscamera.com.

 

[tunalegs]

I had to turn my computer sideways to read it, but interesting stuff.

 

[-Nash-]

From the notes it seems that the camera was taken from Walter Majewski for inspection, I wonder if they returned the camera to him.
And I see it says Sonnar 5cm 1.5 - a tough lens to find in nickel and black finish!
Are there any other names and\or addresses on the camera or ER case?
Mine has these -

 

[botty]

Sadly no other names. The paperwork is difficult to read here as I can't get my wife's "stupid mac" to rotate them but the second one is a receipt stating how much money he was given for the articles, 420RM for the camera and lens and 6RM for the film so I guess he didn't get it back.

The first bit of paperwork says that the capturing officer has examined the item and in his opinion 'the value of the item is more than the cost of training you to use it' so we are taking it off you.

I have contacted the town council in Germany who let me know the US 2nd armoured division occupied the town first and I have a request with their veterans association to see if the officers name is known to them. Unfortunately the German armed forces service record department would not help with any information on the individual.

Yes, the lens is nice, in fact the body is a black/nickel one as well.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Awesome! As US 2nd Armored in WW2 is my main field of study/re-enactment. That's quite interesting.

 

[Bill58]

Great find! I know zero about the German army (and frankly don't wanna know), but that seems like a lot of gear for an ordinary soldier to be carrying around. I wonder if he was the unit photographer?

God bless the souls of the US 2nd. Armored.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Nah, only airborne divisions had their divisional photographers. Other units were covered by Camera Units of the Signal Photo Companies. There were a lot of GIs with personal cameras though. As many as 1 in 2 according to Lewinski in "Camera at War".

One 2nd Armored veteran told me (back in 2009) how they liberated a warehouse full of "Leicas" at some point during the drive to the Elbe.


Concerning the bill I think our German was glad he got paid for it.
As the great Bill Mauldin ones put to paper:

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]"Luger, $100 ... camera, $150 ... Iron Cross, $12 ... it is good to be captured by Americans."[/FONT]

 

[mynikonf2]

Mr. Fibble, Love that cartoon but oh how real it was & still is. You just have to add a zero onto those prices to be current. 😀

p.s. Of course those prices are not for the"collector grade" items.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Well, the US Dollar was worth quite a bit more back then, wasn't it? 😉

 

[goamules]

What a nice kit and history. My great Uncle Charlie, still alive at 93, discovered a warehouse full of finely engraved double barrel shotguns during WWII. He said they all liberated one each, and shipped them home. His went to his sister, my grandmother, and I've always hoped to get it one day. But everyone else has the same idea.

 

[botty]

The last RM to dollar figure I can find is 1940 when 1RM=$2.5 (I guess less in 1945). So he walked away with potentially $850 worth of RM. Quite a lot I expect for the time.

Bill58, I guess you meant was the German the unit photographer? That I would love to know. However in the German army photographers tended to be grouped in a unit (propagandakompanie) and farmed out to cover events as and when needed. I would love to find this out. I have been unable to discover which units were surrendering in Lebenstedt during this time. The town archive says no Propagandakompanie were in the area but I suspect their records are not comprehensive.

Anyone with links to US military archives who can suggest where to ask please let me know.

 

[oftheherd]

That's a great find. The Welta Welti that I often used after my father's death had the name of a German soldier scratched inside the back. Hurvitz as I recall. I have no idea where or when it got to the States. My father didn't liberate it as he wasn't in the military, his civilian job being declared war esential. Unfortunately it didn't survive a house fire some years ago. But I got a lot of photos with that camera.

I am sure yours will also provide great photos if you decide to make it a user.