Wirgin

Wirgin was a German company, that made a line of quite inexpensive 35mm SLRs from the 1950s to the 1970s, called the Edixa. They were already active before World War II and had made a small 3x4cm camera using 127 film, the Gewirette.

They also made a 35mm VF camera with Wirgin and no other name. on the front of the Compur shutter is the name "F DECKEL-MUNCHEN". (The company is F. Deckel and they were in Munich.) The lens is a Gewironar 4.5/5cm. The lens also has the name Wirgin Wiesbaden. The collapsible lens goes from 4.5 to 16 and the shutter speeds are 1 second-1/300 plus T and B. On the back is a depth of field chart. There is no date or serial number on the camera but I think it was built in the '30s. I have seen other variations on this camera with different lenses and shutters.

Gewirette

This small collapsible viewfinder camera takes 127 film using a 5 cm lens. The specimen I have has a Gewironar f/4.5 lens, marked as above ("Wirgin Wiesbaden"). It has a 3-speed Vario shutter (1/25, 1/50, 1/100 plus T & B). The camera is interesting in that the entire top of the camera comes off to load and unload film; there's a winding knob (marked "F") on the left, and a latch knob on the right, marked "Z" (for "zu", closed) which you turn to unlatch the top and allow it to be lifed off the body.

The back has two red windows, covered by little hinged metal covers that are spring-loaded.

The lens is a triplet, with the front element on a helical to focus (down to 3 feet).

The camera has "GERMANY" stamped in the vulcanite on the back, and the focus scale is marked in feet, so I assume it was made for export. (I obtained the camera recently in the United States.)