List of GDR organ builders

This list contains organ builders and organ builders who were active in the GDR .

Organ builder

In the GDR there were over 30 companies and organ builders who built pipe organs. The four largest owls , Jehmlich , Sauer and Schuke were nationalized in 1972, the others could continue to work privately. The list shows all organ builders with new members up to 1990.

Short name, place	Consist	Official names, owners	image	New organs built 1945–1990	Remarks
Adam, hall	1950s	Reinhard Adam
Bahr , Weimar	1966-1979	Günter Bahr		at least 3	Successor to Gerhard Kirchner , mainly repairs and restorations, taken over by Norbert Sperschneider (see below)
Bohm , Gotha	1888 – around 2000	Rudolf Böhm (until 1962), Gerhard Böhm
Brode, Heiligenstadt	since 1980	Karl Brode
Creutz, Nentmannsdorf	since around 1988	Siegfried Creutz		at least one positive (Meissen),	otherwise repairs and modifications
Owl , Bautzen	since 1872	Hermann Owl Bautzen ; VEB Eule-Orgelbau Bautzen (1972–1990)		about 300
Fahlberg , Eberswalde	since 1851/1965	Ulrich Fahlberg, Eberswalder Organ Builder			1965 takeover by Karl Gerbig (see below)
Gerbig , Eberswalde	1928-1965	Karl Gerbig, A. Kienscherf Nachf., Inh. Karl Gerbig		at least 5	Successor to Albert Kienscherf , in 1965 to Ulrich Fahlberg ( see above )
Gernhardt, Leipzig		Klaus Gernhardt		at least 1	otherwise restorations, later based in Bad Lausick
Ludwig Glöckner , Berlin	1947-1977	Ludwig Glöckner		at least 10	1977 to Axel Stüber (see below)
Helfenbein, Gotha	before 1910 – around 2010	Hans Helfenbein
Lothar Heinze , Stadtilm	since 1809	Adam Eifert successor , Lothar Heinze (until 1967)			1967 handed over to Karl-Heinz Schönefeld (see below)
Hüfken , Halberstadt	since 1978	Reinhard Huefken
Yes , Dresden	since 1808	Gebrüder Jehmlich Orgelbau Dresden (until 1972); VEB Orgelbau Dresden , VEB Jehmlich Orgelbau Dresden (1972–1990)		about 450
Kirchner , Weimar	1935-1975	Gerhard Kirchner			Successor to Emil Heerwagen , taken over by Günter Bahr (see above)
Gerol Kaiser, Frankfurt		Gerol Kaiser-Reka		at least 3 small organs	otherwise built historical musical instruments
Koehler, Pretzsch		Eduard Fritz Koehler
Kühn, Merseburg	1935-1995	Rudolf Kühn (until around 1950), Gerhard Kühn
Erwin Lägel, Eilsleben	1970s	Erwin Lägel
Lahmann , Leipzig	1955-1987	Hermann Lahmann		at least 6, including 2 in USSR	1947–1954 head of the Jehmlich branch in Leipzig
Paul Laubs, Erfurt	1942-1952	Paul Laubs			on behalf of Walcker
Löbling, Erfurt	1970s	Herbert Löbling
Nussbücker , Plau am See	since 1965	Wolfgang Nussbucker			Founded in Erfurt in 1965, in Plau in 1966, organ building in Mecklenburg since 1990
Raatz, Crossen	around 1983–?	Hans Dietrich Raatz		at least 2	otherwise repairs and modifications
Rühle , Moritzburg	since 1932	Wilhelm Rühle until 1988, then Wieland Rühle
Sauer , Frankfurt	since 1857	VEB Frankfurter Orgelbau Sauer (1972–1990)		about 600
Schmeisser , Rochlitz	1844-1975	Rudolf Schmeisser
Schönefeld , Stadtilm	since 1809	Karl-Heinz Schönefeld (since 1967)			took over in 1967 from Lothar Heinze, who took over from Adam Eifert , who took over from August Witzmann , who took over from Benjamin Witzmann
Schuke , Potsdam	since 1820	VEB Potsdam Schuke organ building (1972–1990)		approx. 350
Schuricht , Taucha	before 1964 – around 1979	Hans Schuricht		at least 4	almost no information
Schuessler, Greiz		Hartmut Schuessler
Schuster , Zittau	since 1869	Siegfried Schuster
Söhnle, Halberstadt	1937 – around 1980	Wilhelm Söhnle			1937–1952 branch of E. Palandt & Söhnle KG Hildesheim and Halberstadt
Sperschneider, Weimar	1979-2002	Norbert Sperschneider		at least 1 (Günz)	took over the workshop of Günter Bahr (see above), conversions and repairs
Stüber, Berlin	1977– around 1990	Axel Stüber, Stüber Orgelbau Berlin		at least 4	Takeover of Ludwig Glöckner ( see above ), building barrel organ since around 1990
Voigt , Bad Liebenwerda	since 1905	Arno Voigt (until 1961), Gisbert Voigt, Dieter Voigt
Wünning , Großolbersdorf	since 1983	Georg Wünning

literature

• Markus Voigt: Organ movement in the GDR. Consideration of a contrary economic, cultural and political environment from 1945 to 1990 (= Studies in Musicology, Volume 17). Publishing house Dr. Kovač, Hamburg 2009. (= Diss. Univ. Halle-Wittenberg, 2008) Table of contents
• Markus Voigt: Organ building and movement in the GDR (1949–1989). In: Ars Organi , 58, 2010, pp. 209-220.
• Albrecht Riethmüller: The "nature" of the organ in the GDR. In: Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (Ed.): The organ in East Germany and Poland. (8th Colloquium of the Walcker Foundation for Organ Science Research, September 25-26, 1992 in Frankfurt / Oder) . Kleinblittersdorf 1993, pp. 85-95.
• Gerhard Spallek: The Organ Builders of the GDR 1963–1989. In: ISO Information , 31, 1990, pp. 77-80.

Web links

• Directory of organs manufactured by companies based in the GDR for the territory of the GDR from 1945 to 1990 by Markus Voigt (PDF)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Directory of organs manufactured by companies based in the GDR for the territory of the GDR from 1945 to 1990 by Markus Voigt (PDF) also listed Arthur Friedrich in 1948, as well as, by mistake, Knauf, Roman Ilisch and two other organ builders.
2. ^ Organ building in the GDR Het Orgel, 2009 (Memento from May 30, 2019) counted 21 companies
3. ↑ About us Orgelbau Brode
4. ↑ Brief company history of Eule Orgelbau
5. ↑ Etzoldshain Church, the only new organ (1967)
6. ↑ some Helfenbeinorgeln organ database (Dutch)
7. ^ Kühne Rühlmann organ building
8. ↑ In Crossen, go to the Freie Presse from January 14, 2014, restricted access
9. ^ Gerhard Spallek: Experienced company history in difficult times. The W. Sauer company after the Second World War. In: Acta Organologica 29, 2006, pp. 359–372, briefly in company history of organ building W. Sauer Frankfurt (Oder)
10. ↑ Catalog raisonné Orgelbau W. Sauer Frankfurt (Oder) , Mühlrose 2007.
11. ↑ Company history with opus index. ( Memento from January 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
12. ^ VEB Potsdamer Schuke-Orgelbau company sign
13. ↑ Söhnle, Wilhelm organ index, organs