WWII, Eastern Europe

[jbn10161]

Tonight's TV watchers might have seen a few pens being used by Russians and Germans during the early years of WWII as portrayed in the PBS docudrama "WWII: Behind Closed Doors." There is a short thread on this in "Writing Instruments." I could not identify any of the pens, partly due to my ignorance and partly due to an obstructed dramatic view. What pens would likely have been used by government leaders on a regular, not commemorative, basis in Poland, Russia, and the Baltic states between 1935 and 1945? What about by German leaders?

[Vintagepens]

Don't forget that dip pens were still widely used at this time.

If we are talking about fountain pens, however, the top German brands would have been the most likely candidates here: Montblanc, Soennecken, Pelikan, Kaweco, etc. In the Baltic states, the classic Parker Duofold would also be a strong possibility.

[QM2]

This was before the era when the USSR began to produce their own horrid FPs of the Soyuz variety, so I am guessing the pens were German or American classics.

 

Stalin used a Pelikan at the Potsdam conference:

http://www.stalinmuseum.ge/memorialeng.html

 

Mayakovsky wrote with Montblanc, though this was 15 years earlier:

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/5888730

[jbn10161]

As always, the knowledge that you Forumites have is amazing!

[HBlaine]

This was before the era when the USSR began to produce their own horrid FPs of the Soyuz variety, so I am guessing the pens were German or American classics.

 

Stalin used a Pelikan at the Potsdam conference:

http://www.stalinmuseum.ge/memorialeng.html

 

Mayakovsky wrote with Montblanc, though this was 15 years earlier:

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/5888730

 

Now that is fascinating! I never imagined Stalin using a Pel. Strangely, I always imagined him with a pencil in his hand. (I suspect, strangely, this is because of all those images of Lenin with a pencil in his hand...)

 

I'll never look at my Pel 100 the same way again.

[LauretteBradley]

The Stalin Pelikan is indeed fascinating! I noticed the very broad nib, even in the not-so-great photo. Very suitable. I can not imagine Stalin using an extra fine.

[Gehaha]

This was before the era when the USSR began to produce their own horrid FPs of the Soyuz variety, so I am guessing the pens were German or American classics.

 

Stalin used a Pelikan at the Potsdam conference:

http://www.stalinmuseum.ge/memorialeng.html

 

Hi,

 

Probably a stolen one....

I hate to see a STALIN museum really existing :bonk:

How could they?

 

Thanks QM2 - I could not even think of something like that...

A museum for one of the ugliest mass murderers in history - bizarre.

 

His pipe his pen, as if he were some friendly grandfather

 

Horrified,

Anna

Edited May 10, 2009 by Gehaha

[HBlaine]

Hi,

 

Probably a stolen one....

I hate to see a STALIN museum really existing :bonk:

How could they?

 

Thanks QM2 - I could not even think of something like that...

A museum for one of the ugliest mass murderers in history - bizarre.

 

His pipe his pen, as if he were some friendly grandfather

 

Horrified,

Anna

 

Sad, but true. It doesn't surprise me that there is such a thing as a Stalin museum. It's frightening, though, that he's been somewhat "rehabilitated" in the Russian popular conscious. There are some who pine for the "good ol' days" under "Father Joe." They see it as a sort of sepia-tinted golden time of order and stability, as compared to the way things are now. Never mind the millions disappearing in the middle of the night, being herded into prison camps, or being pushed into mass graves.

 

It's the same mentality that makes some people think Hitler wasn't a bad guy. (One of the most horrifying things I remember reading was an interview with a lady who'd grown up during the early days of the Third Reich. Her only real observation was, "We had such wonderful parades then...")

 

Thinking of Stalin (and of Mother's Day today), one of my professors in grad school had grown up in the waning days of Stalin's rule. He said he distinctly remembered sitting on his mother's lap, and someone asking him whom he loved more, Stalin or his mother. He, of course, answered his mother. His mother, horrified, immediately jumped in to correct the boy, "OH, he doesn't mean that! He LOVES Comrade Stalin!"

 

I really can't imagine. And I don't want to.

Edited May 10, 2009 by HBlaine

[ZeissIkon]

I hate to see a STALIN museum really existing :bonk:

How could they?

 

If you forget monsters like Hitler and Stalin, how will you recognize the next one to come along?

[I am not a number]

And now, back to the pens...

[HBlaine]

Watched the 2nd half of the documentary series that prompted this thread, and the pen sightings were quite minimal. Everything I saw looked distinctly modern.

 

Rick P. and I had a brief email exchange on the subject of "Stalin's Pen" (given that it was a Pelikan), and Rick reminded me that Stalin did have a fascination with all things German. So, it probably isn't surprising that he used a Pelikan. (As a side note, I notice that in photographs of Lenin, the only writing instruments I've ever seen are dip pens. The photo that sticks in my head the most is on the front cover of Richard Pipe's The Unknown Lenin, where Lenin is holding a dip pen, and you can see rocker blotters and ink bottles on the desk in front of him.)

 

Are there any collectors of purely Russian pens out there? The only brand I know of is the "Soyuz" one, which seems distinctly post-war to me.

[rx170]

Sojuz

 

[ZeissIkon]

Heh. Good old Soviet-era communist industry -- masters at copying (the Chinese do it too, of course, maybe better, or at least more profitably than the Soviets did).

[HBlaine]

Sojuz

 

Wow, it looks like the bizarre mating of a Waterman Taperite and a Parker 51!

 

Does it use the accordion filler?

 

I've actually heard that some of these pens do write well. How's this one?

[saintsimon]

....

 

Rick P. and I had a brief email exchange on the subject of "Stalin's Pen" (given that it was a Pelikan), and Rick reminded me that Stalin did have a fascination with all things German. So, it probably isn't surprising that he used a Pelikan. ...

 

Just be aware of close cooperation between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union before the German invasion of Russia in 1941, including the common occupation of Poland in 1939. There had been many chances to exchange each others products up until then.

 

Soviet–German relations before 1941

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H27337,_Moskau,_Stalin_und_Ribbentrop_im_Kreml.jpg/180px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H27337,_Moskau,_Stalin_und_Ribbentrop_im_Kreml.jpg

"Stalin welcoming [German foreign minister] Ribbentrop in the Kremlin, August 23, 1939"

Edited May 17, 2009 by saintsimon

[HBlaine]

....

 

Rick P. and I had a brief email exchange on the subject of "Stalin's Pen" (given that it was a Pelikan), and Rick reminded me that Stalin did have a fascination with all things German. So, it probably isn't surprising that he used a Pelikan. ...

 

Just be aware of close cooperation between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union before the German invasion of Russia in 1941, including the common occupation of Poland in 1939. There had been many chances to exchange each others products up until then.

 

Soviet–German relations before 1941

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H27337,_Moskau,_Stalin_und_Ribbentrop_im_Kreml.jpg/180px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H27337,_Moskau,_Stalin_und_Ribbentrop_im_Kreml.jpg

"Stalin welcoming [German foreign minister] Ribbentrop in the Kremlin, August 23, 1939"

 

Oh, absolutely. A natural out-growth (in a way) of the close cooperation prior, between the Weimar Republic and the USSR. They were, for a long while, the two pariah nations in Europe. So, almost naturally, they turned to one another. Military exchanges, trade, you name it. A good basis to work from, particularly when Stalin knew he was up against the wall, his army in ruins due to his purges. Better to work with the creatures you know (the Germans), than the creatures you don't (in particular the English, whom he really distrusted). (And we won't even get into the Russian paranoia towards the Western Powers after the western intervention in the Russian Civil War...)

[searcher18]

Tonight's TV watchers might have seen a few pens being used by Russians and Germans during the early years of WWII as portrayed in the PBS docudrama "WWII: Behind Closed Doors." There is a short thread on this in "Writing Instruments." I could not identify any of the pens, partly due to my ignorance and partly due to an obstructed dramatic view. What pens would likely have been used by government leaders on a regular, not commemorative, basis in Poland, Russia, and the Baltic states between 1935 and 1945? What about by German leaders?

[searcher18]

I buy Pens from a seller in Prague. He is very knowledgeable about pens in E. Europe. He has a source of unique pens. I have bought several Ripet pens which were manufactured in Bohemia until the Nazis killed the Jewish owners pre WW2. His pens do not come cheap but they are usually in mint condition. I buy from him on Ebay. His seller name is jonakimusic and his email is debashishchaudhuri@volny.cz.

[jbn10161]

I buy Pens from a seller in Prague. He is very knowledgeable about pens in E. Europe. He has a source of unique pens. I have bought several Ripet pens which were manufactured in Bohemia until the Nazis killed the Jewish owners pre WW2. His pens do not come cheap but they are usually in mint condition. I buy from him on Ebay. His seller name is jonakimusic and his email is debashishchaudhuri@volny.cz.

Thank you!

[HBlaine]

I buy Pens from a seller in Prague. He is very knowledgeable about pens in E. Europe. He has a source of unique pens. I have bought several Ripet pens which were manufactured in Bohemia until the Nazis killed the Jewish owners pre WW2. His pens do not come cheap but they are usually in mint condition. I buy from him on Ebay. His seller name is jonakimusic and his email is debashishchaudhuri@volny.cz.

 

Oh, if I hadn't just blown a great deal of money on a bunch of vintage SAKs, I'd be sending an email...