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I'm having a very hard time deciphering what is said in this picture taken in 1938 of Hitler speaking at the Hotel Imperial in Vienna. All I can read is "Die ____ grüßen den Führer". I think the word I can't decipher is some compound with "steyr" which is a city in Austria so it seems to fit the context.

black and white photo of the expression

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2 Answers2

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The word is Steyrwerke. It was a weapons factory company in Steyr, Austria.

Björn Friedrich
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    Is that an old "w" letter in "werke" or was this actually a "v"? Struggling to see the boundaries of the letters. – luk2302 Nov 22 '21 at 13:14
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    At that point, March 15, 1938, two days after the annexation of Austria (which was rather welcomed by the Austrians), the company was probably still in the process of transforming into a weapons conglomerate, after being largely civilian in the earlier 1900s. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Nov 22 '21 at 15:37
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    @luk2302 the y of Steyr and the first e of werke should be clear. Between that, you can see four vertical lines. I think the first one belongs to the r and the other three belong to the w. The letters look like the ones in this image. – bb1950328 Nov 22 '21 at 16:44
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    @bb1950328 thanks a lot, never saw a w like that. The z looks unfamiliar as well, the rest looks obvious :) – luk2302 Nov 22 '21 at 16:51
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    @luk2302 There is no z. The w is the same as I learnt at school in the 1980ies (like an n with an additional loop), but looks different from what is taught today. Looks like the Offenbacher Schrift. – rexkogitans Nov 22 '21 at 18:24
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    The font mimics handwriting, where w is written a lot like a ligature of n and v: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/%C3%96sterreichische_Schulschrift_1969.jpg – Ingmar Nov 23 '21 at 13:29
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As already answered, this is Steyrwerke.

At the time of the photo, however, the merger to form Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG in October 1934 had already taken place (see text below the lettering).

The previous company name was still well known and is placed in the photo dated from 1938 above the official name.

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