Zeiss Ikon
In 1926, the firm of Carl Zeiss Jena merged four major German manufacturers of optical products: Contessa-Nettel AG of Stuttgart, Ernemann AG of Dresden, Optische Anstalt C. P. Goerz of Berlin, and Ica AG of Dresden. The new company was named Zeiss Ikon AG.
The "Ikon" in the name is a combination of "Ica" and "Contessa-Nettel", and is also almost identical with "eikon", the Greek word for image. The logo for the new company was "ZEISS / IKON" within the borders of an achromatic doublet lens.
According to the official Zeiss-Ikon website, "Carl Zeiss Jena wanted to create a huge, healthy and powerful manufacturing concern to utilize its lenses. And with the help of Carl Zeiss, Zeiss Ikon created a wealth of highly successful optical products of all kinds."
Zeiss Ikon is best known for its high quality cameras and photographic equipment.
As a result of the partition of Germany after World War II, Zeiss Ikon was split into separate East and West divisions domiciled in Dresden and Stuttgart respectively. Their product lines diverged.
Zeiss Ikon (Dresden) began production in May 1945 but several factories were closed and dismantled so that the equipment could go to the Soviet Union as reparation for losses suffered by Soviet camera makers during the war. In 1948 the East German part of Zeiss Ikon became state owned and renamed VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden. After trademark struggles with the western Zeiss Ikon, VEB Zeiss Ikon was renamed VEB Kinowerke (Dresden) in 1958. In 1964 it became the main holding of the East German company, VEB Pentacon Dresden.
In West Germany, Zeiss Ikon AG was established in Stuttgart. In the mid-1960s, it merged with Voigtländer, another important German optical company, which had been controlled by the Zeiss Stiftung since 1956. Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart ceased the production of cameras in 1972. Parts of the company were spun off to Rollei and Yashica.
