Did you know?
Walter Zapp and the Minox
In 2005, Minox honored the inventor of the miniature camera with a commemorative medal. (Photo courtesy of Minox)
March 28, 2004
The famous Minox miniature “spy” camera was developed and manufactured by Walter Zapp in Rīga, Latvia. The first production model was even named for the city.
Zapp created the camera in 1936, but the first commercial model—the “Riga”—was made in 1938 and carried a “Made in Latvia” marking.
Zapp was born into a German family in 1905 in Rīga. He died at the age of 97 in 2003 in Switzerland. More about Zapp may be learned from the Minox Historical Society and the Latvian Academy of Sciencies.
Detailed histories of the camera are available from the Minox company Web site and from the Minoxgraphy Community.
Among the photo galleries on the Minoxgraphy Community site is a haunting collection of post-war images of Flensburg, Germany, made in 1946 by Mintauts Jansons, a Latvian.
The picture above is a detail from a 1959 advertisement for Minox cameras in National Geographic Magazine.
— Andris Straumanis
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Comments about this article
Janis Rube
Being an amateur photographer all my life, I can see why the Minox camera "Riga" goes for such high price on auction block. Ofcourse they are antiques, the ones that collectors seek. Great article by Straumanis in Latvians On line.
27 Oct 2004 (United States)
Peter Buttuls
My father Arthur Buttuls was the draftsman for that camera. He worked at VEF in Riga in several departments, then apprenticed in the U.S., working in power stations on Chicago and Detroit, and after the war for the USA Air Force, even in General LeMay's house in Wiesbaden, Germany.
17 Jul 2007 (Canada)
Peter Buttuls
A few days ago I met a relative of Walter Zapp here in Victoria, Herman Zapp of Argentinia. He and his wife (and later kids) had travelled in a 1928 car from Argentina to the Arctic and were on their third trip here in Victoria, planning to travel on to Asia and Africa via Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand. They have published a book on their travels called "Spark Your Dream" and I plan to follow their travels on their website at http://www.sparkyourdream.net, because my father worked for Dr. Walter Zapp in 1938.
03 Mar 2008 (Canada)