The newspaper was founded in 1916 by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) politician Otto Braun.
Initially, the newspaper carried the devise 'Upper Silesian Free Press - Organ of the Upper Silesia Agitation District of the Social Democratic Party of Germany'.
Volkswille became the central party organ of the German Social Democratic Party of Poland (DSPP), which had been formed out of the remains of SPD, USPD and SDAPÖ branches in areas that were now within the Polish republic.
[2] In January 1931 the Bielsko DSAP organ Volksstimme was, due to lack of funds, merged into Volkswille.
The cause was rather simple, the German Machtübernahme meant that financial subventions from Germany for Volkswille ceased.