[Leica] Mnox camera used by spies.

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

Mark writes:
"Even spies didn't use them (i.e. Minox cameras.)"
- - - -
Not so Mark.
Do a Google search for "Minox camera used by spies." The first ten articles
cited confirm that the Minox camera was issued to the intelligence services
of many countries. The details and, in many cases, the names of the spies
that used them, are listed. Jamed Bond is not on the list. The OSS was the
first big importer of Minox cameras in the US. In 1947 it bought 47 Riga
Minox cameras to issue to its agents. Navy spy Walker used a Minox camera to
copy secret documents and code manuals. The CIA, in its museum in its
Langley, VA headquarters exhibits a Minox camera as one of its major spy
cameras. Many countries prohibited sales of Minox camera to civilians under
the assumption that only spies used them. On a personal note, in 1957, at
the height of the Cold War, I was detained by military authorities when I
entered a restricted area forgetting that I had a Minox camera in my
briefcase. I was released and the camera returned only when the developed
film showed nothing but images of my wife and children. There were other
cameras that were used as spy cameras but none was as high a quality and as
easily concealable as the Minox.
- and so on.
Larry Z