This is a fascinating article, Ron, and I really like the way the history of the company is set against the background of the history of the German Democratic Republic. I visited the GDR for two weeks during the 1970s, partly to add to the cultural knowledge I needed in my full-time job as a secondary school German teacher and partly because I wanted to experience life in the country whose education system I was studying for a part-time Masters degree. The article brought back many memories, particularly because I bought a copy of the GDR diving magazine "Poseidon" during my time there.
Just to complement what's in the article, there are other national precedents for medical companies making diving gear. Alfaplastik of Moscow makes diving fins as well as syringes and medical tubing, website at
http://www.alphaplastic.ru/
Speaking of diving fins, Medi of Leipzig made the Pinguin dry suit as well as breathing gear, but it didn't make fins and masks. The GDR firm responsible for manufacturing the latter was Guwelin of (East) Berlin, a general rubber goods company. Their flagship fins, named "Naiade", have something of a cult status in modern Germany and they can still be obtained from Hungary, where the original GDR moulds were sent and manufacturing resumed. Currently named "Najade Standard", the Hungarian versions, which are still in production, are now the only all-rubber full-foot fins to be approved for international finswimming competitions. I have a pair which I occasionally use for North Sea snorkelling:
They're a great fit and move well through the water.
David