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Johan Steenbergen was born in Meppel in The Netherlands, and in 1912 he founded the "Industrie- und Handelsgesellschaft in Dresden. In fact the company name led to the name "Ihagee" which is an acronym for the German pronunciation of "IHG"; "ee-hah-gee". From around 1918 the companys name were "Ihagee Kamerawerk Steenbergen & Co." One of the most prominent persons employed at Ihagee must have been Karl Nuchterlein, who, based on the 120 and 127 rollfilm Exakta's of the early 30's, developed the Exakta's for 35mm film in 1936 and Karl Nuchterlein thus created the 24 x 36 SLR we know today comprising a moving mirror and interchangeable viewfinders incl. prisms. It is beyond any doubt, that the very destinctive Nuchterlein design and outer shape of the Exakta's (and Exa's for that matter) have been one of the most succesfull designs in the history of photography. During the II World War, in 1942, Johan Steenbergen feels forced to leave Germany and his company in Dresden, and as it were the case with so many other companies in Dresden, Ihagee Kamerawerk AG was almost totally destroyed during the devestating air-attack by the Allied forces in 1944. After the war production was resumed with whatever parts had survived the air raids, and the range of products were limited to Exakta and later on to the consumer level Exa models. The Ihagee Kamerawerk was always a thorn in the eye of both the russians and later of the East German state, mainly because it had remained a privately owned and financed company, and thus making it very difficult to nationalize. However by neglect and probably to some extend also "quiet harassment" they suceeded in bringing the company under the influence of VEB Pentacon, and finally in 1970 the Ihagee Kamerawerk lost its independence totally. Johan Steenbergen founded a new company, Ihagee West, as early as in 1959 when he had returned to West Germany, and only 5 years later the Ihagee West launched their own camera, the Exakta Real, which were no success at all. Johan Steenbergen died in 1967, and the Ihagee West was finally closed in 1976. Today only a foundation exist with its headquarters in The Netherlands. There are so many websites and sources where you can find informations and learn all about Steenbergen, Nuchterlein, Exakta, Exa and Ihagee in general, and I would like just to mention a couple of great sites, which I hope you will visit, and once again Klaus-Eckard Riess has a personal story to tell from Ihagee in Dresden where his mother also worked for many years. Ihagee & Exakta products and history Wrotniak's wonderful Exakta page !
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