(Testimony of Dennis Hyman Ofstein)
Mr. Jenner.
It wasn't ridicule?
Mr. Ofstein.
No sir.
Mr. Jenner.
All right; go ahead.
Mr. Ofstein.
And he seemed very happy of the fact that I was able to speak a little Russian, and he seemed to enjoy that more than any of the other things down there.
Mr. Jenner.
With regard to your facility with the language, did you have a greater facility, to--understand it when spoken; by someone else than you did with reading it or speaking it yourself?
Mr. Ofstein.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.
And did he speak to you in Russian from time to time?
Mr. Ofstein.
From time to time---- very seldom.
Mr. Jenner.
You say he asked you to help him make an enlargement of a print or of a film?
Mr. Ofstein.
It was a print and he wanted a negative on it, so I got him a continuous tone negative, which is the type required for reproduction.
Mr. Jenner.
Would you tell us what you mean by that somebody has a positive print?
Mr. Ofstein.
Yes.
Mr. Jenner.
And that's what he had?
Mr. Ofstein.
Right.
Mr. Jenner.
And it showed a river and a nice building in the background?
Mr. Ofstein.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.
And he wanted it enlarged?
Mr. Ofstein.
Yes.
Mr. Jenner.
What did you do?
Mr. Ofstein.
I shot a negative of it from a masking film, which is the type film required to reproduce a photograph such as is used-by most people of children or their houses or their cars, and showed him how to put it in the enlarger and blow it up and the type of paper to use, the different contrasts of paper, and he made the enlargement of the print. It was a pretty rough print--it had been torn at one time.
Mr. JENNER, You mean his print had been torn?
Mr. Ofstein.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.
Was it a photograph or a postcard, or was it something that you were under the impression he had taken?
Mr. Ofstein.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.
Himself?
Mr. Ofstein.
Right.
Mr. Jenner.
With a camera--what I would Call a Brownie camera?
Mr. Ofstein.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.
That sort of thing?
Mr. Ofstein.
Right.
Mr. Jenner.
All right; go ahead.
Mr. Ofstein.
After I showed him how to do that, he experimented with it a little bit and got what he thought was possibly the best reproduction he could have gotten of. it, and several times thereafter he made enlargements of pictures that he had while he was in the service, pictures that he said were taken in-Japan, showing snow on the ground in bivouac areas and so ,on with himself in several of them.
Mr. Jenner.
Were there any more pictures of Russia, taken in Russia?
Mr. Ofstein.
Not that I noticed. If he had any he didn't show them.
Mr. Jenner.
But he did not have the facility' himself to make these enlargements, you had to show him how to do it?
Mr. Ofstein.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.
About what period of time was this with respect to when he started working and when his employment was terminated?
Mr. Ofstein.
I would just make a guess that it was about 1 month after he started, because he seemed interested in whether the Company would allow him to reproduce his own pictures, and I told him that While they didn't sanction that sort of thing, that people do it now and then. They do it occasionally and end up reproducing a couple of pictures that wasn't anything out of the way.
|