Mimosa
From Camerapedia.org
| Camera industry in Dresden |
| Balda | Certo | Eho-Altissa | Ernemann | Feinmess | Hüttig | Ihagee | Kochmann | Kerman | KW | Eugen Loeber | Ludwig | Mentor | Mimosa | Pentacon | Richter | Wünsche | Zeiss Ikon | Zeh |
| Camera industry in Freital |
| Beier | Pouva | Thowe | Welta |
In 1893 a photo paper factory was founded in Cologne. After several financial failures the company was bought by a new one, the Rheinische Emulsions-Papierfabrik Heinrich Stolle. A blooming mimosa twig was the company's symbol. In 1902 it was merged with Dr. Opitz & Co., Munich. It became a stock market company. In 1904 it moved to Dresden. It was successfully making photo paper and dry plates. In 1913 the company was renamed to Mimosa AG. Before and after WWI it bought several other companies. From 1905 to 1930 its production of photo paper rose from 25,000 square metres to 7,310,000 square metres. Other film products were also made by the company.
During WWII more than half of the production was changed to warfare material. The company's Jewish employees, including most of the directors, were forced to leave already before war, during the war even the factory director von Dobschinsky was sent to a concentration camp. The Nazis made Dr. Weidner and Mr. von der Osten new directors. After the war von Dobschinsky came back to the factory in Dresden which had not been bombed severely. But Dr. Weidner and Mr. von der Osten already had moved many assets of the company to West Germany. They even tried move the company's base to Hamburg. In late 1945 the both managers were fired, and the Soviet government of East Germany allowed to restart photo paper production. The company became state owned with von Dobschinsky as custodian. In 1949 the company became VEB Mimosa Dresden.
In 1947 the company was driven to make cameras. This became a successful project, lead by Robert Graichen. The Mimosa (1948) and later the Mimosa II (1949) were very compact full-featured 35mm viewfinder cameras. From 1954 to 1990 the company continued solely with the production of photo paper, the other product lines being taken over by Zeiss Ikon. German reunification brought the end for the company.
In West Germany Dr. Weidner and Mr. von der Osten had launched a new photo paper and film factory Mimosa AG in 1948. It moved from Hamburg to Hannover and from there to Kiel. Several lawsuits were fought with the East German VEB Mimosa. The actual state of that company is unknown.
source
- Blumtritt, Herbert: Geschichte der Dresdner Fotoindustrie, Stuttgart 2000
link
- company history before 1944 on a German site about steam engines
- Cameras at www.collection-appareils.fr
