We analyze solar energetic electron events measured with particle detectors on board of theISEE‐3 (ICE) andHelios1 and 2 spacecraft. Energy spectra in the range 0.1 to tens of MeV are generated applying the results of a careful re‐examination of the electron response function of the instruments. The spectral shapes of events observed simultaneously, among them five on all threes/c, are in very good agreement inspite of the sometimes considerable difference in azimuthal and radial distances of thes/cwith respect to the flare. These findings suggest that transport processes at the Sun and in the interplanetary medium depend only weakly on the electron energy and that the observed spectra are representative of the accelerated electron spectra at the Sun. A comparison of the electron spectra with SMM gamma‐ray spectra gives evidence for the existence of different acceleration and emission mechanism in flares with long (LDEs) and short duration (SDEs) soft X‐ray emission. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.