ORWO-Original Wolfen


ORWO-Original Wolfen
Added by stomff andrei aurel
General Description ORWO was an East German manufacturer of photographic film and magnetic tape. The basis for ORWO was the Agfa Wolfen plant, where the first modern colour film with incorporated colour couplers, Agfacolor, was developed in 1936.
On 20 April 1945, following the fall of Nazi Germany in World War II, the plant was taken over by US forces and important patents and other documents regarding the Agfacolor process were confiscated and handed over to Western competitors, such as Kodak and Ilford. As the plant was located in what was to become the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, the US forces then handed it over to Soviet Military Administration, which dismantled large parts of the plant and moved it, with key German staff, to Soviet Union, where it formed the basis for the Soviet colour film industry.
In 1953 the plant became the property of East Germany, and in a trade agreement settlement, the East German company, VEB Film- und Chemiefaserwerk Agfa Wolfen, was given the right to sell its products under the Agfa brand in Eastern Europe, while the newly re-established Agfa in West German Leverkusen had the right to the name in the rest of the world.
As the trade agreement seriously hampered the East German company's abilities to sell in the West, the ORWO trademark (for Original Wolfen) was introduced in 1964. ORWO branded 35mm colour slide film became available in the United Kingdom in the 1970s through magazine advertisements for mail order suppliers. It was a cheaper alternative to the mainstream brands available at the time.
Material Metal
Attachment type Straight pin
Manufacturing technique Die Struck
Catalog prices No catalog prices set yet

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