Johan Steenbergen

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Johan Steenbergen (born December 7, 1886 in Meppel , Netherlands, † March 7, 1967 in Osnabrück ) was a Dutch entrepreneur.

Life

1886-1945

Johan Steenbergen was the son of a manufacturer in the textile industry. In 1908 his father sent him to Dresden to deal with the local textile companies and to expand his knowledge of the industry. Due to the sudden death of his father, Johan Steenbergen was no longer tied to the textile industry and was able to devote himself to his passion for photography. He stayed in Dresden and began working as a volunteer at Ernemann AG . Since he was able to gain a lot of experience with Heinrich Ernemann , Steenbergen decided to set up his own company. He opened his first company on May 13, 1912. He bought a small carpentry shop because the cameras and accessories of the time required good carpentry. He produced wooden photographic supplies. Its first cameras appeared in 1912. In 1913 there was a change of company name, with the Industrie- und Handelsgesellschaft mbH eventually becoming the Ihagee Kamerawerk GmbH.

Johan Steenbergen with his wife and niece, 1937

On December 11, 1918, there was a merger with the company of the master carpenter Emil Englisch, who ran a factory for photographic equipment. The camera programs of both companies complemented each other so much that neither had to do without. Johan Steenbergen hired four other partners as head of the company, who were deployed where they had the greatest experience. The production of the camera models and the export could now be increased considerably.

In 1921 the Ihagee camera factory introduced the first model of a single-lens reflex camera, the Plan-Paff-Reflex, and a little later the Roll-Paff. In 1923 the entire company moved into a much larger building, which now had space for 500 employees. In the same year, Karl Nüchterlein was hired, who had extraordinary ideas and implemented them. Thanks to him, the Ihagee camera factory later gained its excellent reputation.

Johan Steenbergen was appointed Honorary Consul of the Netherlands on March 22, 1929. The reputation of the camera work grew with it.

This year, however, the global economic crisis set in , which also left a clear mark on the Ihagee camera factory. Short-time work and layoffs had to be initiated. Since there was only a slight upturn at the end of 1930, Nüchterlein presented Johan Steenbergen with the idea of ​​producing a single-lens reflex camera in a new, small-format design. In October 1932 the first sample cameras of the Exakta 4 × 6.5 were finally presented. The same team also developed the Kine Exakta , which was launched in March 1936.

As Johan Steenbergen was a Dutch citizen and his company was also working with Dutch capital, his working capital was confiscated due to hostile property. That led to two changes:

  • The previous manufacturing company was converted into a stock corporation - Ihagee Kamerawerk-AG, with Steenbergen's capital share being administered by a trustee
  • Formation of the open trading company Steenbergen & Co.

Since he still had financial income, he established the Steenbergen Foundation on May 12, 1942 to support the Ihagee employees.

Production at the Ihagee camera factory was abruptly ended by the air raids on Dresden in February 1945. The entire factory building burned out. After one had found repairable machines and individual parts, provisional arms production was resumed. From May 1945 Ihagee was able to move into the former Delta factory of Zeiss Ikon-AG and continue production.

After 1945

After the end of the war, Steenbergen moved to western Germany. From 1951 to 1961 he again held the office of honorary consul in Hanover . He died on March 7, 1967 at the age of 80 in Osnabrück .

Known products

  • Photoklapp-Mikrobie, 1915
  • single-lens reflex cameras, from 1921 under the names Exa, Exakta and Ihagee

literature

  • Richard Hummel: SLR cameras from Dresden - history, technology, facts. Lindemanns, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3895061271

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Steenbergen, Johan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Meppel , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1967
Place of death Osnabrück