SS TYPEWRITER - FULL SIZE - NOT A PORTABLE

A FULL-SIZE

OFFICE STYLE

NAZI SS

TYPEWRITER

IN WORKING

CONDITION



This is a wonderful, little-used, full-size office model CONTINENTAL SS typewriter called the “SILENTA” (pronounced See-lenta, means “silent”). It is the style of machine used by the secretaries of Adolf Hitler and in the offices of people like Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, and is not a small portable machine.

The CONTINENTAL SILENTA was the top-of-the-line of several styles of typewriters manufactured by the Wanderer Werke in Siegmar-Schönau, Germany during the Third Reich. They made tens of thousands of regular typewriters during the Nazi era, but those that are most sought after today are the full-size machines with the runic SS key, like this one.

The advantages of the full-size SS typewriters over the portable ones should be obvious: they are quieter in operation, they have far more special features, and they are far better built in terms of quality. This machine is suspended on four very large square rubber legs. The hammers that strike the ribbon to produce letters on typing paper are counterweighted on this machine to make the action very smooth and reduce the noise. The 9 inch rubber roller around which the paper fits has many adjustments not found on smaller machines.

By depressing the shift key and striking the number 3 key, this typewriter types SS runes in any desired position among a row of letters.

Virtually all SS offices and offices of the Nazi Party used this sort of full-size typewriter after the runic SS character became an official part of the German alphabet in 1939. They were used for filling out documents and writing letters where typing a runic SS character was desirable. Many ordinary typewriters without the SS runes key continued to be used in other offices in Nazi Germany right through the end of World War II in 1945. This typewriter is CONTINENTAL SILENTA serial number 753361 and measures about 16 x 16-1/2 inches and is 9 inches tall. It weighs approximately 32 pounds (15 kg) and comes with an original ribbon. The original ribbon spools are important because it is possible to buy a regular American typewriter ribbon, rewind it on these spools and use it in this machine.

The above was typed on this Nazi era typewriter.