1934 Mercedes Deutsche Underwood #19880
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Paolo Dal Chiele (pdcox)
Created: 12-29-2024 at 09:01AM
Last Edit: 12-29-2024 at 09:47AM
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Description:
The exact classification of my two Deutsche Underwood was problematic: they are strictly related to the Underwood Universal Portable and the Mercedes K41/Prima, with the Deutsche Underwood brand and the progressive serial number of Mercedes.
For these reasons it seemed correct to consider the Deutsche Underwood as Mercedes: brand Mercedes, Model Deutsche-Underwood.
What seems to be the only Deutsche Underwood in the Database is filed under the Underwood-Elliot-Fischer brand, which is not perfectly correct considering that all Underwood after the merger of the companies in 1927 this was the complete brand name of all Underwoods.
Underwood-Elliott-Fisher was the result of the merger of Underwood with Elliott-Fisher, a maker of accounting machines in 1927.
In December 1927 the new company gained a majority holding in Mercedes Büromaschinen GmbH. Production of Mercedes typewriters started in Berlin but, in need of a much larger workforce, the company had moved to the small town of Zella in the Black Forest of Thüringia in 1908.
According to Robert Messenger «Underwood contributed portable typewriter designs to the Mercedes enterprise, and Mercedes’ first portable, the Prima of 1934, is unmistakeably an Underwood variation. Other notable Mercedes portables include the Superba, Selekta (aka Selecta) and the K45».
According to Georg Sommeregger «the "Underwood Portable" was sold by Mercedes Büromaschinen Werke AG as the "Mercedes" small typewriter after Underwood took over Mercedes in 1930. The first phase of production was carried out by Underwood (July or August 1931 to June 1933), and from June 1933 Mercedes produced the Underwood Portable itself.
Together with Royal (that bought out Orga-Werke) and Remington Rand (that took over Torpedo’s typewriter arm in 1931) Underwood was among the number of international companies competing against each other for access to the lucrative German market. The fact that Hitler was an admirer of American mass production techniques helped the business to flourish after the nazis took over the power in 1933.
Many of these company have been accused of having collaborated with Nazi Germany before America entered into World War II. If the use of the term "collaboration" has been fiercely opposed in the specific context, it is a fact that American subsidiaries have more or less willingly greatly contributed to the Germany war effort, the most debated examples being those of Opel, Ford and IBM.
Keeping the presence in Germany during this period to protect Underwood’s investment done before the Nazis took over the power was understandable, but the fact that the company's German operations for office equipment were "highly profitable" was at least in part a consequence of an economy rapidly evolving in a war economy.
It is to be underlined that making business in Germany for foreign companies was subject to strict regulations and restrictions: in order to force businesses to invest in Reich friendly programs, for example, the Loan Fund Law of December 1934 capped dividend payments at 6% of reserves and taxed the surplus. In addition, converting the profits in RM into foreign currencies was strongly restricted.
It was not until America's declaration of war on Germany in December 1941 that become illegal for U.S. motor companies to have any contact with their subsidiaries on German-controlled territory.
The imprint on the machine #19880 indicates the “Deutsche Underwood Elliott Fisher GmbH in Berlin W.8 at Leipzigerstrasse 123a.”, while that on the machine #158598 “Deutsche Underwood Elliott Fisher GmbH Berlin W.8”.
The code W.8 indicates the Post Office W 8 (Postamt Berlin W 8) in Französische Straße 9–12 that was about 750 meters away from the headquarters of Deutsche-Underwood in 1934 in Leipzigerstrasse 123a. Even if the full address is not indicated on the 1940 machine it is highly likely that it has remained the same; another explanation of the missing address in the 1940 model is that Underwood-Elliot-Fischer may have closed the office after Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939, leaving only a post address for direct communications.
The building that housed the offices of Underwood-Elliot-Fischer was in Berlin Mitte, the first and most central borough of Berlin, at the intersection of Leipzigerstrasse and Wilhelmstrasse, in a building that had been recently built according to photographic documentation of the time. This building also housed other important companies, such as the Jewish paper and paper goods company M. Kimmelstiel & Co. (founded in 1901 and dissolved in 1938, was a royal purveyor and sold its own Kimmelstiel brand fountain pens) and P. Raddatz & Co (specialists in glass, porcelain, furniture, lighting, utensils for house and kitchen, founded in 1795 and that did not survive the destruction of the war).
The center of Berlin has be almost completely destroyed by bombing and fighting, and the War Ministry of the Third Reich was located at a short distance in Leipzigerstrasse.
The building does not exist anymore, but the Post Office W 8 at least has been restored.
On Deutsche Underwood portable typewriters, Georg Sommeregger offers the following details:
The typewriters were available with both plastic keys (as my 1940 model) and white ring keys (as my 1934 model).
On some of the plastic models, the backspace key (written "RT") is no longer on the left side as before, but on the right, slightly diagonally above the "Ü" key (as in my 1940 model).
I am not familiar with Underwood, but this feature seems to be a modification designed by Mercedes to put the backspace key in the position where the European customer were expecting to find it.
The typewriter with the highest serial number documented by Georg Sommeregger is the #107757 (1938); mine has serial number #158598 (1940) and shows that Underwood-Elliot-Fischer remained operational in Germany well after the start of the war in Europe.
Both typewriters are in good working conditions.
Typeface Specimen:
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Hunter: Paolo Dal Chiele (pdcox)
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Interested in historic motoring and vintage cars, I received a typewriter as a bonus when I bought and old off-road car. The previous owner had found somewhere a typewriter produced for the German army and when he sold me the car he gave me the typewriter too. As I learned later, it was a1961 Olympia SM7 Robust..
Of the typewriters I value more character than perfection, the signs that time has left and the stories - or fragments of stories - of those who used them ...
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Mercedes Deutsche Underwood on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Mercedes Serial Number page and the Mercedes Deutsche Underwood By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
