Minox Inventor Walter Zapp Dies
Created | Updated Oct 24, 2005
Walter Zapp, the inventor of the Minox camera, died on July 17, 2003 at his home in Switzerland. He was 97 years old.
Walter Zapp is considered by experts to be one of the great pioneers of photography, equal ranking with Ernst Leitz, Carl Zeiss, Oskar Barnack and Karl Kellner.
It is a part of human nature to take note of "the greatest", "the most", and "the first". Unfortunately, as we note these, we do not often have all the facts at hand. This is most probably the reason why the Minox camera, and by extension its inventor Walter Zapp, are not lauded by the world with such inventions as the transistor, nuclear fission, and penicillin.
In many ways it can be well argued that the Minox camera was one of the most influential and important inventions of the 20th century.
When one takes a moment to sit and reflect, the power of this becomes quite evident. The Minox camera as a tool of The State, has prevented and caused more conflicts, raised and felled more governments, prevented and caused more transfers of vital technologies, and been behind the scenes of almost every major pivot point in international history since its invention in 1937 even through today.
The power of this little tool is first noted anecdotally by the purchaser of the first Minox sold outside of Riga. This French diplomat noted "its usefulness for office purposes" (Moses, Spycamera p14). From that moment on, governments clamored for specimens to add to their arsenal. Orders for dozens of cameras at a time can be found from most of the governments that were real players then. Governments even went so far as to purchase cameras from civilians during World War II to fulfill the nation's insatiable need for Minox cameras.
Why wouldn't it become the preferred medium to exchange information? While other cameras have been made about the size of a Minox, none have matched its durability, features, or flexibility. The same camera that is about the size of a lighter can take a picture of an enemy base from the top of a ridge, then snap a covert photo of a diplomat in that facility at close range, and then take photos of the documents in that diplomat's file drawer later that evening. All of this vital information is then contained in a cylinder about a half an inch in diameter and about as high. Not only that, but the ability to put 50 pictures on a single roll pretty much leaves all the other competition in the dust. Only now are electronic means of storage beginning to compete with the density, durability, usability and portability of this information storage media.
Once the capabilities of the Minox were known, they became standard tools of the trade. As early as World War II, sensitive images were crossing international lines to aid both sides in assessing their enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Decisions on which hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives pivoted on came down to analysis of a frame from one of these rolls of film.
And those are just the ones we know about.
We know about the Minox and its involvement in the Walker Spy case, Christopher Boyce, JFK's reliance upon information obtained by a Minox in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Lord Brabazon's illicit (though benign) photos of the British Parliament at a pivotal time in history, and a whole host of other times that a Minox was there when another couldn't be. A listing of these alone would be impressive enough to make the argument quite solid.
Almost by definition though, it is the activities we DON'T know about that would most likely put the Minox, and it's inventor Walter Zapp, over the top. After all, which is more damaging or helpful to a government: The spy who is caught and you can know what was lost, or the spy who is never detected and is able to continue for decades un-noticed.
Will we see a 60 Minutes report that the Minox has superceded the transistor as the invention of the century?
Most likely not.
That doesn't diminish the genius and simplicity of the Minox camera. Its influence is still being felt in the halls of governments, and the pages of history books, and will continue to do so for years to come.
We will miss Herr Zapp.
Walter Zapp is considered by experts to be one of the great pioneers of photography, equal ranking with Ernst Leitz, Carl Zeiss, Oskar Barnack and Karl Kellner.
It is a part of human nature to take note of "the greatest", "the most", and "the first". Unfortunately, as we note these, we do not often have all the facts at hand. This is most probably the reason why the Minox camera, and by extension its inventor Walter Zapp, are not lauded by the world with such inventions as the transistor, nuclear fission, and penicillin.
In many ways it can be well argued that the Minox camera was one of the most influential and important inventions of the 20th century.
When one takes a moment to sit and reflect, the power of this becomes quite evident. The Minox camera as a tool of The State, has prevented and caused more conflicts, raised and felled more governments, prevented and caused more transfers of vital technologies, and been behind the scenes of almost every major pivot point in international history since its invention in 1937 even through today.
The power of this little tool is first noted anecdotally by the purchaser of the first Minox sold outside of Riga. This French diplomat noted "its usefulness for office purposes" (Moses, Spycamera p14). From that moment on, governments clamored for specimens to add to their arsenal. Orders for dozens of cameras at a time can be found from most of the governments that were real players then. Governments even went so far as to purchase cameras from civilians during World War II to fulfill the nation's insatiable need for Minox cameras.
Why wouldn't it become the preferred medium to exchange information? While other cameras have been made about the size of a Minox, none have matched its durability, features, or flexibility. The same camera that is about the size of a lighter can take a picture of an enemy base from the top of a ridge, then snap a covert photo of a diplomat in that facility at close range, and then take photos of the documents in that diplomat's file drawer later that evening. All of this vital information is then contained in a cylinder about a half an inch in diameter and about as high. Not only that, but the ability to put 50 pictures on a single roll pretty much leaves all the other competition in the dust. Only now are electronic means of storage beginning to compete with the density, durability, usability and portability of this information storage media.
Once the capabilities of the Minox were known, they became standard tools of the trade. As early as World War II, sensitive images were crossing international lines to aid both sides in assessing their enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Decisions on which hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives pivoted on came down to analysis of a frame from one of these rolls of film.
And those are just the ones we know about.
We know about the Minox and its involvement in the Walker Spy case, Christopher Boyce, JFK's reliance upon information obtained by a Minox in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Lord Brabazon's illicit (though benign) photos of the British Parliament at a pivotal time in history, and a whole host of other times that a Minox was there when another couldn't be. A listing of these alone would be impressive enough to make the argument quite solid.
Almost by definition though, it is the activities we DON'T know about that would most likely put the Minox, and it's inventor Walter Zapp, over the top. After all, which is more damaging or helpful to a government: The spy who is caught and you can know what was lost, or the spy who is never detected and is able to continue for decades un-noticed.
Will we see a 60 Minutes report that the Minox has superceded the transistor as the invention of the century?
Most likely not.
That doesn't diminish the genius and simplicity of the Minox camera. Its influence is still being felt in the halls of governments, and the pages of history books, and will continue to do so for years to come.
We will miss Herr Zapp.
