Expert opinion (first trial)

February 21, 1943

National Criminal Police
Police Headquarters Munich

Crime Lab – Munich, February 21, 1943

Journal Entry No. 1375 g/43

Expert Opinion

Regarding: Seditious leaflets.

Previous correspondence: Document from the Secret State Police [Gestapo], State Police Headquarters Munich, dated February 10, 1943, No.13226/43 II A.

Enclosures: 1 set of photographs; 1 package of leaflets “Fellow Students!”; 1 leaflet “Resistance Movement in Germany”; 1 leaflet “German Students!”; 1 file from the Secret State Police [Gestapo]

By order of the Secret State Police [Gestapo] – State Police Headquarters Munich – the crime lab of Police Headquarters in Munich issues the following expert opinion on the matter at hand.

Assignment

It should be determined whether the leaflets and the addresses have been prepared with one of the same typewriters for which type specimens are available.

The materials that have been made available for examination are referred to as follows:

A 1 Leaflet of the Resistance Movement in Germany [Leaflet 5]

A 2 Leaflet Fellow Students! [Leaflet 6a]

A 3 Leaflet German Students! [Leaflet 6b]

A 4 Folded leaflet with address

A 5 1 envelope (address) from Vienna

A 6 Folded leaflet with address

A 7 1 envelope (address) from Augsburg

A 8 2 envelopes (addresses) from Frankfurt am Main

A 9 1 envelope (address) from Salzburg

The following type specimens have been made:

V 1 Type specimen from the leaflet of the Resistance Movement in Germany, prepared on a portable Remington No. NL 82533 M

V 2 Type specimen from the leaflet Fellow Students, prepared on the same typewriter

V 3 Type specimen German Students prepared on the same typewriter

V 4 Type specimen on a folded leaflet prepared on the same typewriter

V 5 Type specimen (address) from Vienna, prepared on the same typewriter

V 6 Type specimen on a folded leaflet (address) prepared on a portable Erika typewriter, [Model] No. 507540-6

V7-9 Type specimens (addresses) from Augsburg, Frankfurt am Main, and Salzburg, prepared on the same typewriter.

Findings

Review of the material:

Examination of the leaflets A 1, A 2, and A 3 shows that the leaflets were recorded (prepared on a wax stencil) using a typewriter with Roman type such as Pica font. The addresses on envelopes A 4 – 9 were also typed in Pica.

Examination:

Leaflets and addresses were closely examined. Primarily, this examination allowed the determination that with regards to style and size of type there was agreement in all the documents. A microscopic examination of all three leaflets and part of the addresses demonstrated that the letters had the same form.

The previous examination to determine what form of typewriter system was involved had already shown that the typeface could not be attributed to any of the 46 German typewriter groups. Therefore our expert opinion issued February 4, 1943 (No. 1352 g/43) had already advised the Secret State Police [Gestapo] that the examination of typeface did not yield a German system.

In order to determine what sort of foreign system was involved, the corresponding material had been sent to the crime lab of the Sicherheitsdienst in Berlin. In addition to the leaflet “Resistance Movement in Germany”, three leaflets of the “White Rose” were enclosed, since [the leaflets of the White Rose] looked to be the same typeface and clearly prepared on the same typewriter.

Further comparative examination yielded specific distinctive attributes of individual typed letters. For a better overview of the findings of our examination, the enclosed set of photographs was prepared. Red arrows point to the peculiarities of the individual typed letters.

Not counting the slightly elevated horizontal position of upper case letters, numerous lower case letters demonstrate damage to the typeface. With the letter “r”, the lower left point is crooked and shortened by about a half. The lower case letter “f” shows typeface damage as well; similarly, the left-hand side of the letter is shorter. Another characteristic of this letter is that the upper curve is flattened out. With lower case “t”, the vertical line above the dash is slightly damaged and therefore shortened. Of particular note is the lower case “m”, which in addition to being positioned slightly tilted also demonstrates a mangling of the lower left- and lower right-hand points of the letter. (Compare photographs for A 1 – 5!)

All of these peculiarities are visible in the leaflets and in a large number of the addresses from Munich, as well as on the envelopes addressed to Vienna. Subsequent examination of the typeface size and spacing between letters showed that these were the same for all the leaflets. It was therefore possible to conclude that these documents or rather the wax stencils had all been typed on the same typewriter.

Type specimens were prepared using the portable Remington typewriter [Model] No. NL 82533 that had been confiscated on February 19, 1943. These were then labeled V 1 – V 5.

Comparative examination led first to the conclusion that the basic requirements of sameness in typeface size and spacing between letters were fulfilled. Type specimens exhibited the same distinctive attributes of the lower case letters “r, f, t, and m”. In the set of photographs, individual words, magnified to approximately twice the size of the original (A 1 – 5) and the type specimens (V 1 – 5), have been juxtaposed. The peculiarities can be clearly seen in these photographs. The excerpted words have been underlined in red in the documents that were compared.

Result:

As a result of this examination, it can be stated with certainty that the leaflets in question as well as a portion of the addresses were typed on the portable Remington No. NL 82533 M.

Additional examination:

A large portion of the Munich addresses, as well as those from 1/25/43 in Augsburg, 1/27 in Vienna that were sent to Frankfurt am Main, and the envelopes mailed in Salzburg on 1/29 also exhibited Pica typeface, but of a different sort. The determination of the typewriter system that had already been carried out by the crime lab had pointed to the typewriter group of either the Erika or Ideal typewriters. (Compare expert opinion dated February 4, 1943 No. 1352 g/43.) These two brands have the same letters.

On February 18, 1943, the Secret State Police [Gestapo] secured an Erika typewriter with the [model] number 507540/6. Type specimens prepared on this typewriter were compared with the above-mentioned addresses. For better visibility, single words from the original documents and type specimens were photographed, enlarged, and juxtaposed in the enclosed set of photographs. These are photographs A 6 – 9 and V 6 – 9.

Congruities can be shown in the following specific attributes:

1. Variances in the horizontal position of typeface, such as in the word “Adalbert Str.” (compare A 6 and V 6!) – the uniform position of the letters “Ada” that results from the lower position of the upper case and lower case letter “a”. This also appears in the combination of the letters “Afra” in the street name “Afragäβchen” (cf. A 7 and V 7!). Similarly, due to the higher horizontal position of the lower case “o”, there is uniform position in the surname “Pommer” and in the street name “Adolf Str.” (cf. A 8 and V 8!). If in the latter one also considers the beginning letters “Ad”, the lower position of the lower case “a” provides a leading baseline.

2. Variances in the vertical position of typeface with the lower case letter “i”. This is less visible when it follows an upper case letter, but shows up most clearly when it is in the middle of a word (cf. “Hier” in A 6 and V 6, “Diamin Str. in A 8 and V 8, and “Siezenheimer Str.” in A 9 and V 9!). Evidence of wear and tear on the typewriter.

3. When examining for irregularities in the manner in which the typeface struck the page, it became clear that there was always a greater distance between the letters “b” and “u”. (Cf. city name of Augsburg in A 7 and V 7 and Salzburg in A 9 and V 9!) Evidence of wear and tear on the typewriter.

4. Exceptionally distinctive typeface damage is not exhibited by the documents. On the other hand, one can point to dirty typeface. It can be observed quite clearly that the envelopes mailed on January 25, 27, and 29, 1943 show a slight sullying of individual letters. These are the lower case letters “ä, e, f, k, and s”. The letters that were mailed on February 16, 1943 as well as the leaflets assembled then show that the typeface is far dirtier. This can be seen in the lower case letters “ä, e, k, s, and u” and the upper case letter “H” [Note 1]. Variances could not be observed.

Result:

The remainder of the addresses was prepared on the Erika typewriter [Model] No. 507540/6.

Overall result:

In summary, I have reached the following conclusion based on a thorough investigation:

1. The following were typed on the portable Remington [Model] No. NL 82533 M:

a) The wax stencils for the leaflets of the “White Rose”, the “Resistance Movement in Germany”, those entitled “Fellow Students!” and those entitled “German Students”

b) Part of the addresses in Munich and three addresses of those in Vienna.

2. The following were typed on the Erika typewriter [Model] No. 507540/6:

The remainder of the envelopes sent to addressees in Munich; 27 addresses in Augsburg; 2 addresses in Frankfurt am Main; 3 addresses in Salzburg.

/Signature: Möll/
Police Inspector

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Note 1: Coincidentally, the typewriter used for this document – the expert opinion of the crime lab – had problems with the upper case letter H!

Note: The “photographs” mentioned here were not included in the file.

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Source: ZC13267 (51 – 55)