Deadly Typewriter
From the collection of the War and Resistance Center Groningen (OVCG)
h 25 cm x w 39 cm
1940-1945
The German occupier not only imposed its will using soldiers, but also through the Civil Service. A typewriter could be just as deadly as a bullet. Until the end of 1944 this typewriter was used in the Scholtenhuis on the Grote Markt, the main square in Groningen. In this monumental building countless arrest warrants were set in motion, confessions were noted in detail after brutal interrogations and documents were typed to facilitate the persecution of the Jews.
The notorious Scholtenhuis was the northern headquarters of the Sicherheitsdienst, the Nazi Security Service. Many people were also tortured there. In official communications between the various divisions of the Civil Service under occupation, the SS-insignia appeared regularly. So of course this typewriter was equipped with a special SS-key (above the #3).