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Sunday, July 20, 2008
A bit of history: the origins of Zenit
Felix Edmundovich Dzerjinsky (or Dzerzhinsky) (1877-1926), was the founder of the Soviet secret police (Cheka). At the death of this (sad) character, his comrades have the nice idea to found in Kharkov (Ukraine) under his name a "Work commune for children" (a kind of "police orphanage"?) they entrust the direction to a probably more friendly character, poet and educator Anton S. Makarenko. A labour commune, it is a kind of autonomous entity, where, while ones study, others work in the factory, and others work in the fields to feed everyone.Since 1927, the Soviet government banned the import of foreign products, obliging to produce what was previously imported. Fed then produces tools for the woodworking, metalwork, sewing... later drills...Leica I appeared in 1925, the Leica II in 1932, that same year the production of Leica copies is planned in Kharkov, the company at this time is not only able to design cameras, but also all the tooling required to manufacture them. The "FED 1" are mass produced from 1934.So the first mass-produced 135 camera in Soviet Union carries the initials of a cop who has probably never held a Leica in his hands!In 1941, the Germans are in Ukraine, Kharkov plant is evacuated to Berdsk (Siberia), displaced workers will make aircraft parts. Much of the tooling and parts are "lost" and reappear in Sverdlovsk, where was evacuated the staff of the Krasnogorsk (Moscow suburb) plant (KMZ), which already makes optics for the army. The army needs cameras and KMZ assembles some FEDs and resumes the manufacturing of Photosnipers (born in Leningrad, but which can no longer be produced because of encirclement by the German army). In the immediate post-war period, the Krasnogorsk plant (where also landed a big part of the Jena Carl Zeiss factory, simply taken down and recovered as "war damage") produces FEDs. The Fed-Zorki appears in 1948, the Zorki 1 from 1949. The first Zenit is a Zorki on which was added a mirror and pentaprism.After more than 70 years, the curtain shutter is still the same on a Zenit 412 than on the FED, copied from the Leica II!Sources:The authentic guide to Russian and Soviet cameras, J.L.Princelle, Le Reve Edition.(†)zenitcamera.comWikipédia (see Dzerzinsky Felix and Makarenko Anton).
On a forum (I won't quote) I came across a clown presenting "comrade" Felix as the inventor of the Fedka. Awesome! Oscar Barnack would be a pale copier, then, because if you look at the dates, F.E.D. would have invented before his death in 1926 a shutter which appeared on the Leica II in 1932! Should inquire a little bit before writing such a crap!The "Youth work commune" could be a reformatory (at least initially).I forgot an essential link: The Dzerzhinsky Commune: Birth of the Soviet 35mm Camera Industry, by Oscar Fricke on fedka.com.