Olympia typewriter, 1942

Typewriters revolutionized office work at the beginning of the 20th century; previously, writing was mainly done by hand. The Allgemeine-Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG) in Berlin wanted to play a part in this and launched the “Mignon” model in 1903, followed by the first typewriter called “Olympia” in 1930. AEG renamed its subsidiary “Olympia-Büromaschinenwerke AG” after it in 1936.

In the same year, Olympia launched a reinforced version of its small typewriter “Olympia Progress”: “Olympia Robust”. Instead of chrome and glossy black, the additionally reinforced machine was matt gray and the metal parts were burnished. The Nazi government ordered them for both the civilian administration and the military. In 1942, when this typewriter left the factory, Olympia produced its millionth typewriter.

The “SS rune” was the only Nazi symbol to make it onto the keyboard as a special character. The symbol was used on the “5” key in the written language for the Schutzstaffel and its military arm, the Waffen-SS, as well as the associated ranks and offices. However, the organization’s logo had nothing to do with a rune; in 1929, the designer at the time felt that the font, which was reminiscent of lightning bolts, was simply fitting. The mythical connotation was only added later through Nazi propaganda.

Typewriters were mostly operated by women; around 95% of typists in the Nazi state were female. They worked for the police, Wehrmacht and SS, in the typing rooms of the barracks, in the occupied territories and in concentration camps. Even the industrialized war could not have been waged without typewriters: Millions of men in armoured divisions, fighter squadrons and naval flotillas were formed and moved by typed instructions from the Armed Forces High Command down to their own unit.

This text was automatically translated using AI.