Why no Max?

[Jerry Attrik]

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This might be the correct place, if not, someone will quickly correct me.  I started by mooching the internet for 'Leica 1 model a'.  Many good illustrations, then I found one in Wikipedia which was a fair read with good information.  In an inset panel containing the ubiquitous Red Dot was a list of people who contributed to the build and early development of what is now-a-days referred to as a 'Barnak'.  Oskar Barnak,  Walther Benser; Wild Heerbrugg;  Ernst Leitz II;  Walther Mandler  and Heinrich Wild.   So now my question; why has Max Berek been left out?  Just remember that it is the lens which takes the photographic image not the 'camera' (English translation of that Italian word = 'room' or 'chamber' see also 'camera obscura').
O.K. that is my Grumpy old Yorkshireman whinge-of-the-day.
Be more Spaniel and 
Enjoy a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
D.Lox.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Jerry Attrik
Missed the final greeting

[luigi bertolotti]

It's because the contributor(s) of Wikipedia on that page do not include any Forum Member... 😁

[UliWer]

vor 41 Minuten schrieb Jerry Attrik:

a list of people who contributed to the build and early development of what is now-a-days referred to as a 'Barnak'.  Oskar Barnak,  Walther Benser; Wild Heerbrugg;  Ernst Leitz II;  Walther Mandler  and Heinrich Wild. 

Of the people mentioned above, only Ernst Leitz (I+II), Barnack and of course Max Berek were involved. Benser was never occupied with constructing cameras, he was a photograper who promoted Leica products and „invented“ a bag and a device for carrying two lenses. Mandler only entered the scene 30 years later, Wild and Heerbrugg came 50 years later, and just acquired the part of Leitz which made geooptical instruments. 

Max Berek was honored by the fact that the lens on the very early Barnack cameras was named ELMAX. They couldn‘t uphold this name as it was too similar to ERMANOX, which was a competeting camera. So it was called ELMAR, but you still find the MA…-roots in it. The expression „Barnack Camera“ was only used in the very beginning and not really in public, but then the name dropped completely from any branding of Leitz product. 

[willeica]

This one mentions Berek

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leica_Camera

What is the other entry that doesn't mention him? Is it about the corporate entity? 

This interview with Berek is worth reading.

https://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2019/10/an-interview-with-max-berek.html

This is published on the blogsite that derived from the Barnack and Berek magazine.

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Berek did the optical designs, but Barnack worked also with a team which worked on the mechanical side of the lenses e.g. Zuhlcke. Leitz/Leica always was, and still is, an organisation built on team work. 

Just to fill out the picture here are the birth certificate (original and copy ) and marriage certificate of Oskar Barnack (note the 'c' on the marriage cert)

Don't strain your eyes trying to read the original birth certificate written in Old German script. Note that the marriage certificate of Barnack describes him as a 'mechaniker'. He loved being that even after he had risen up the ranks. 

William

 

 

[luigi bertolotti]

On 12/11/2022 at 6:57 PM, willeica said:

 

...Note that the marriage certificate of Barnack describes him as a 'mechaniker'. He loved being that even after he had risen up the ranks. 

 

... Any Italian rightly regards Manzoni as the master of our modern language (and Dante the creator) ... well... "mechaniker" was considered a sort of insulting appellative... 😁

(I promessi Sposi - The Betrothed)

..“Nel mezzo, vile meccanico; o ch’io t’insegno una volta come si tratta co’ gentiluomini !”

trad. "stay in the middle of the road, you ignoble mechanic, or I'll teach you how to deal with gentlemen !"  

[willeica]

16 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

Funny how the GDR (German Democratic Republic) jumped on the  Geburturskunde (birth certificate) of Oskar "Oscar" Barnack (document above from 1979) even though the country as such did not even exist at the time he was born in 1879... According to them he was born in "People's paradise of GDR" lol... Luckily the unification of both Germanies erased all such nonsense.

 

Before WWII Dresden was the main hub for the German camera industry, but after the war it ended up in the GDR or DDR. Wetzlar was snuggled safely, well to the West of Dresden.

William 

[UliWer]

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vor 42 Minuten schrieb Al Brown:

Funny how the GDR (German Democratic Republic) jumped on the  Geburturskunde (birth certificate) of Oskar "Oscar" Barnack (document above from 1979) even though the country as such did not even exist at the time he was born in 1879... According to them he was born in "People's paradise of GDR" lol... Luckily the unification of both Germanies erased all such nonsense.

To be fair, the header of "Geburtsurkunde" just says which state issued the document in 1979 and it does not say that Barnack was born in the former GDR, but just in Lynow. If my mother - born in 1926 - would apply for a "Geburtsurkunde" it would say "Bundesrepublik Deutschland" even though the FRG did not exist in 1926.   

[UliWer]

Well, usually a birth certificate is issued by the local adminstration („Standesamt“) were the person was born. This is the only place which keeps the records of births. They don’t move if the person who is on the records has moved elsewhere and of course they don’t become void when the polical system changes as long as the records weren‘t destroyed in the meantime.  Otherwise whole generations in Germany who were born before 1871, between 1871 and 1945, and in eastern Germany between 1949 and 1990 wouldn’t have any records at all.

 

[luigi bertolotti]

1 hour ago, Al Brown said:

I of course understand that. But here is the thing that I do not get - all citizens of West Germany  that were born in what later became GDR and needed their birth certificates later during the two Germanies had to apply in GDR? There was no West German Amt that was issuing them for the Wessies?

Ask in the German Forum and you'll surely have the answer

[Jerry Attrik]

Thank you all.  Not only did my 'simple' question get me a straight response but it is the wealth of encyclopedic knowledge which has proved fascinating.
I must ask more 'simple' questions.  Sorry but I cannot find a way to correct my first 'Barna(c)k'.  Facility is 'not available', it seems.
David L.