Merkel Jagd- und Sportwaffen GmbH is a manufacturer of hunting weapons in Suhl, Thuringia.

After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the company began producing carbines and engine and equipment parts.

[1] After the end of the war the gun was captured and presented to then General, Dwight Eisenhower, and it is now on display in the NRA Museum in Fairfax.

[2] In 1942 Karl Paul Merkel died, and by 1943 the production of hunting weapons came to a virtual halt.

After the war the production of hunting weapons commenced, and in 1952 the company became owned by the government of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).