Pelikan pens made in WWII

[Shamouti]

Please help me out.

 

I don't know anything about Pelikan pens made in Germany during World War II. I've extensively read Rick Propas and I'm out-Propased.

 

I would think that some of the heads of government, including members of the Third Reich must've used Pelikans and some time during those years.

 

Now, did Pelikan make anything special for members of the Nazi Party during that time? I think if so, it would be interesting reading, historically.

 

Shamouti

[Sallent]

I have heard of one or two Pelikan 100 pens with swastikas on the clip. However, I can't find information if the swastikas were added by NAZI officials as after-market customization or by Pelikan itself. Either way it's really creepy

 

I have seen a picture of Albert Einstein with what is clearly the cap of a Pelikan 100 sticking out of his jacket pocket.

Edited January 24, 2009 by Dr Ozzie

[ralfstc]

Hi,

 

Recently on eBay (http://tinyurl.com/azsoog) there was an interesting bit of Nazi history. This Pel 100 has an engraving on the cap: KARL DINKLAGE WERK NSDAP

 

Now, NSDAP is the German acronym for the Nazi party, so I got interested and did a bit of digging around. It turns out that Karl Dinklage was an early Nazi supporter who died in the early 1930s. When Hitler came to power he created some sort of institution named after the man: the "Werk". I can't find out what this werk actually was.

 

So the pen was associated with this institution in some way.

 

That was enough information for me-- I was beginning to pick up an evil aura and moved on.

 

It is inevitable that there will be connections between the company and the party that ruled Germany for over a decade, and I don't think it behooves us to rush to judgement on that. At the same time, I'm clear that it makes the specific items much less interestign or desirable for me personally.

 

Cheers,

 

Ralf

 

 

[MarkTrain]

I have heard of one or two Pelikan 100 pens with swastikas on the clip. However, I can't find information if the swastikas were added by NAZI officials as after-market customization or by Pelikan itself. Either way it's really creepy

 

Dr Ozzie

 

I you really want to get creepy, many years ago I visited the museum at Auschwitz. When I got to the exhibit on tattooing, there it was, a bottle of Pelikan ink in the display. As Ralf says there are bound to be connections as Pelikan was the main supplier of india ink.

 

Mark

Edited January 24, 2009 by MarkTrain

[Shamouti]

I have heard of one or two Pelikan 100 pens with swastikas on the clip. However, I can't find information if the swastikas were added by NAZI officials as after-market customization or by Pelikan itself. Either way it's really creepy

 

Dr Ozzie

 

I you really want to get creepy, many years ago I visited the museum at Auschwitz. When I got to the exhibit on tattooing, there it was, a bottle of Pelikan ink in the display. As Ralf says there are bound to be connections as Pelikan was the main supplier of india ink.

 

Mark

Oh man! Now that IS creepy!

 

Shamouti

[Shamouti]

Hi,

 

Recently on eBay (http://tinyurl.com/azsoog) there was an interesting bit of Nazi history. This Pel 100 has an engraving on the cap: KARL DINKLAGE WERK NSDAP

 

Now, NSDAP is the German acronym for the Nazi party, so I got interested and did a bit of digging around. It turns out that Karl Dinklage was an early Nazi supporter who died in the early 1930s. When Hitler came to power he created some sort of institution named after the man: the "Werk". I can't find out what this werk actually was.

 

So the pen was associated with this institution in some way.

 

That was enough information for me-- I was beginning to pick up an evil aura and moved on.

 

It is inevitable that there will be connections between the company and the party that ruled Germany for over a decade, and I don't think it behooves us to rush to judgement on that. At the same time, I'm clear that it makes the specific items much less interestign or desirable for me personally.

 

Cheers,

 

Ralf

It is a weird thing isn't it? Still, some people are interested in that. Specifically though, what about Pelikans which were made for mass market? What about the CN pens? Didn't Pelikan ration their materials for the War?

 

Shamouti

[Pelikanyo]

There was no gold available for this purpose.

The CN model, which was made after Pelikan resumed making pens, had brass clip and band...not plated...and a chromium nickel nib. The war closed (I should say "redirected") the Pelikan factory for a little over two years.

 

Regards,

Pelikanyo Paul

Edited February 3, 2009 by Pelikanyo

[barny]

I have heard of one or two Pelikan 100 pens with swastikas on the clip. However, I can't find information if the swastikas were added by NAZI officials as after-market customization or by Pelikan itself. Either way it's really creepy

 

Dr Ozzie

 

I you really want to get creepy, many years ago I visited the museum at Auschwitz. When I got to the exhibit on tattooing, there it was, a bottle of Pelikan ink in the display. As Ralf says there are bound to be connections as Pelikan was the main supplier of india ink.

 

Mark

Oh man! Now that IS creepy!

 

Shamouti

 

 

That gives me the creeps in owning a war pen. Although rich in history it is either colourful or dark......

[Ray-Vigo]

The connection between certain firms and the Nazis has long been an unsettling fact of life. Many of the most respected brands were involved with the Nazis in some ways. However, I try to avoid allowing past history to be turned into an on-going accusation against people or their businesses today. I think it's very important to remember the history and the wrongs committed, but they should not be read as a sin on the heads of people today, who have done nothing of that sort.

[Discordianist]

I have been quiet here and managed to stay that way until now. I don't want to bring my personal collection to public, but I do want to share that Pelikan did manufacture some pens for certain Nazi officials and govermental elements (they even made 100s with eagles nest insignia, or at least those exist today). As did they supply ink and other essential supplies. If owning a pen made by company that did supply Nazi party / goverment with stationary gives you creeps your welcome to send them to me. It's same if I said that it's unsettling to own goods made in US because I find their actions in the world condemnable.

 

It's generally not the nations / citizens / companies we should judge but the individuals making decisions, which is not saying that there wouldn't have been things that could have made a difference is nations / citizens / companies would have acted out. But it's not WWII we should be talking about in this manner these days but current day, current politics, current economics, western values (or lack of them) and many other things that are plain wrong.

[Robert Hughes]

If you're ready for a creepfest - look into IBM's history with the German gov't back then. IIRC IBM leased tablulating machines to the concentration camps - and collected the rents after the war ended!

[diplomat]

If you're ready for a creepfest - look into IBM's history with the German gov't back then. IIRC IBM leased tablulating machines to the concentration camps - and collected the rents after the war ended!

 

I read that book too... it was scary!

 

Two days ago I saw Valkyrie at the movie theatre, allegedly (I can't say it for sure but other members here have more certitude) Stauffenberg is seen with a Pelikan 100 at the beginning of the movie.

[blueblazes]

I, too, saw the exhibit at Auschwitz and twitched when I saw the Pelikan bottle. With regard to these WWII pens, I can appreciate the concern with the moral status of possessing an artifact that is connected with an atrocious past, but these are only material items...I think the creepy part arises only when we consider the motivation to own one of these things. If you would like to buy and use Hitler's pen because you idolize him and feel like you're just a little bit closer to him when you use it, that's a bit unsettling. But it's only a pen....as long as your purchase does not somehow support (financially or otherwise) an objectionable cause, I don't see anything morally wrong with it. And if you had no knowledge of the pen's history, I doubt that it would magically radiate some kind of bad mojo in your desk.

I would be happy to own a piece of furniture that Napolean sat upon even though he was arguably a horrible person. Or think about the money in your pocket...when you consider the number of killers and rapists in the country at any given time and the number of coins and bills that pass through our hands each day, there's a decent chance that at some point you'll be carrying around something that was once in direct contact with one of those rotten people. However, it's not really something to lose sleep over.

[gyasko]

It's an interesting question. I wouldn't want a Pelikan or an MB or a whatever from the Nazi period. I don't have any to send to anyone -- i just let them pass when i see them. But it's not as if pens from other nations are pure. I had Nagahara-san tune a 51 for me once. As you may know, he is quite a chatter, but what he chatted about that day was the 51's close tolerances, American industrial power in the 40s, and the atomic bombings (he is an A-bomb survivor). He merely noted the connection between himself & the US. He didn't refuse to tune the pen, or go on a rant. He went on in his usual jocular tone to the next topic. Maybe that's why the conversation has stuck with me.

[rsx]

It's same if I said that it's unsettling to own goods made in US because I find their actions in the world condemnable.

 

I might throw in here that there are very few goods actually made in the US anymore. More to the point, I guess that there are actually few if any fine pens made in the US anymore. Cross pens are all made in China. Of course Parker is all European.

 

Which, if any, have a USA pedigree?

[Den Richards]

Please help me out.

 

I don't know anything about Pelikan pens made in Germany during World War II. I've extensively read Rick Propas and I'm out-Propased.

 

I would think that some of the heads of government, including members of the Third Reich must've used Pelikans and some time during those years.

 

Now, did Pelikan make anything special for members of the Nazi Party during that time? I think if so, it would be interesting reading, historically.

 

Shamouti

 

 

From what I've read, Pelikan was still making pens during the war, but using low grade metal, not gold, for the nibs. I don't know about leadng Nazis' tastes in pens, but I know that Hitler owned a relatively unknown brand, not a Montblanc nor a Pelikan. Goering liked French pens, for some odd reason.

[sbagley]

I have heard of one or two Pelikan 100 pens with swastikas on the clip. However, I can't find information if the swastikas were added by NAZI officials as after-market customization or by Pelikan itself. Either way it's really creepy <img src="https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

 

I have seen a picture of Albert Einstein with what is clearly the cap of a Pelikan 100 sticking out of his jacket pocket.

[sbagley]

I purchased a Mont Blanc fountain pen at a flee market in Sofia Bulgaria in 2001. The pen is black in color, the cap is imprented in white letters, "GERMANY 1939", the pen's silver clip and band are inscribed "Mont Blanc 925", there is a prominent eagle over a swastica at the top of the clip. I can't find any historical data on the pen?

[jar]

On of my Montblancs, a 74, is engraved with the name "Kurt Seidel". Now the 74 is a fairly recent pen, made in the late 50's to mid 60's and the name is not that unusual.

 

BUT,,,

 

there was a Kurt Seidel that who was primarily an engineer and construction person who was drafted into the SS and tasked to build roads to parts of Poland.

 

One such road was eventually named after him and gained fame for being mentioned in a book called "The Diary of a Curious Man" by Patrick Black which was published posthumously.

 

The flowers are beautiful along Kurt-Seidel Strasse, most perfect ever seen. A bird is singing somewhere in the woods. It's spring in Treblinka. Lovely to go for a stroll, but I've too much paper work to do. 16 Sept 1989

 

I know little about that Kurt Seidel other than that he was transferred to Italy after the US began destroying the infrastructure, roads and bridges and he faded from history, but have often thought it would be interesting to write a story based around an imagined origin of this pen, a pen acquired long after the war by an old man who uses it perhaps to write to his grand children, by a man whose task was to build the roads that supplied access to the infamous Treblinka.

[Bo Bo Olson]

As an American living in Germany, the stories I got told were with the American's coming, the war lost, any thing with a swastika was gotten rid of. And the Americans did search the houses; basicly looking for weapons, or stuff like that....

The Germans just knew they were being searched, so things were hid, or buried.

 

If any pens survived, they are in America, because they would be swapped to the GI's for cigarettes; the Black Market money.

 

The cops were ordered to raid the black market's, so if such pens were found, they would have been confiscated and destroyed.

 

There was nothing but the black market for most folks, swapping any thing of value for a couple hand fulls of coal or potatos.

 

There would more than likely be more pens with swastikas or party membership on the mid 30's pens. 1938 gold was forbidden...even for party members.

 

Most of the folks were poor so Cheap Ibis and Rapp pens would have been the norm. No body fancied up them.

 

If there are such pens you can not find them on the Ebay..it is illegal to sell stuff with swastika on them.

I had a few Luftwaffe plates with swastika's on them and when selling them at the German Flea market, I have to tape a piece of paper over the swastika. Even it it was Luftwaffe big and swastika small....

For the longest time the German's couldn't get Mein Kamph either...and I did not sell mine when the market was high.

Not allowed on German Ebay either, still.

 

Can get good money still for Iron crosses, but not a cent for the NSDAP's Mother's medal...10 or more children...

 

WW1 stuff is ok to sell though.