Armia Krajowa Photographers?

[3mk]

Does anyone know what the camera of choice was used by Armia Krajowa photographers such as Stefan Baluk? I assume the majority of them would use anything they can get their hands on, but were Cichociemni issued a camera before dropping into Poland? If anyone has any photographs of any resistance member with a camera please share them

[rsunday]

Hello,
As I quickly went through Baluk's memories I didn't find anything about his camera.

One week ago General Baluk celebrated 100th birthday!

All the best, General!

Greetings
Rafal

[Tomasz70]

Seems that Stefan Baluk was equipped not only with “Leica” photo camera but also with complete photo laboratory when jumping with parachute in Poland in 1944. During the interview he said: “I flew to Poland on April 10, 1944 with complete photo laboratory”
Here you can find some details concerning his statement on military service. PENTAX@PL :: [fotografowie] Stefan Ba
And as you can see here, he went to war with Retina 2 photo camera. Rosikon Press - Stefan Ba?uk

[A.J. Zawadzki]

One week ago General Baluk celebrated 100th birthday!

All the best, General!

Sto Lat indeed!! Best wishes to the general.

Not to intentionally steer Emil’s thread off course, but a recent photo and brief story:




Cheers,
Tony

[StefanM]

I had the pleasure of dining with Stefan Baluk at his home in Warsaw who related the story that on his jump the altitude of the aircraft gave him a serious nose bleed which soaked the front of his jump suit, such was the amount of blood that when he landed the AK reception unit thought he had been shot and wounded!

He also said he was lucky to land safely as his kit was much heavier than it should have been for the chute so he dropped like a stone...maybe it was all the cash he was carrying in a money belt that weighed him down, I think it was $250,000 or similar huge amount of cash which was to be delivered to the AK in Warsaw. Which it was every last dollar, he proudly stated. It was a matter of soldierly pride with the cichociemny that no money destined for Warsaw was lost on route.

Back to AK cameras, anything that could be obtained including 2 1/4 square and 35 mm formats, I believe 35mm half-frame was also available. Prewar Poland's major cities were no different to other European cities and consumer goods such as cameras were readily available especially those from German makers.

[StefanM]

Hi Emil,

Not sure what make all the cameras are but the last image I think shows a Rolliflex which is a 2 1/4" frame camera.







Above: I think this is a Rolliflex (see below) or certainly a twin-reflex camera system.

[StefanM]

Stanisław Janiszewski „Kodak” another AK photographer but unfortunately no photo of him with his camera...but his nom de geurre „Kodak” might be the make of camera he used

Below: „Kodak” at work in the lab....



... and at work in the AK



An exhibition catalog featuring photos taken by Stanisław „Kodak” Janiszewski during WWII was held in his home town of Radomsko in 1996 and again in 2009.

[3mk]

Sto Lat to General Baluk! Such a courageous man deserves recognition

Thanks for your replies everyone. Stefan the TLR could also be a Voightlander Brillant but I would lean toward your suggestion of a Rolleiflex as the shape of the camera seems narrow compared to the boxy shape of Voightlander TLR's. Thanks for sharing those other photos as well, I'll try identifying the other cameras.

If anyone else has any information that fits into this broad topic please share

[StefanM]

Muzeum Historii Fotografii

...might be of interest to trawl through?

[dastier]

Emil,

Jerzy Tomaszewski, one of the two dozen photographers assigned by the Bureau of Information and Propaganda (BIP) to document the Warsaw Uprising mentions in 'My duty was to take pictures' Photographer Jerzy Tomaszewski | Art and design | The Guardian that he used a Dolina 35mm camera. Dollina - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

Mr. Tomaszewski was recruited by the Armia Krajowa to work at Warsaw's Foto-Rys photo lab processing and printing Nazi propaganda photographs and snapshots taken by ordinary German soldiers and to make illicit copies of the incriminating material. The copies were then smuggled to the Polish government in exile.

Here's a photographs that he took during the battle:

Besides Leicas, Rollieflex, Voigtländer and Kodak Retinas cameras, I'm sure there would be others as well - Contax, Agfa, etc.