Under the Third Reich, the factory was taken from the Jewish Simson family, and was renamed several times under Nazi and later Communist control.

[citation needed] In World War I, Simson produced Mauser Gewehr 98 rifles for the German Army.

In the aftermath of the war and the Treaty of Versailles, the reorganized Reichswehr was allowed to buy new handguns from only one company, so as to limit the ability of the German arms industry to recover.

[3] Simson also was responsible for repairing and refurbishing existing firearms of the Reichswehr, though DWM was employed in the capacity as well, in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1925 a SOHC So version was introduced that produced 40 bhp and had a top speed of only 100 km/h (62 mph) The S and S Sport were discontinued in 1926; So production continued until 1929.

Under the dispossession of Jewish industrialists (the so-called aryanization) a trustee took control of the firm, and so by merger with other factories the Berlin Suhler Waffen- und Fahrzeugwerke (BSW) was formed.

As well as the main works in Suhl, the Gustloff-Werke had branch factories at Greiz in Thuringia and at Łódź in Nazi-occupied Poland.

[10] Автовело or Avtovelo is a Russian portmanteau word derived from автомобиль (avtomobil = "car") and велосипед (velociped = "bicycle").

Later, the USSR handed control of the factory to the German Democratic Republic (DDR) and in 1952 it was renamed Volkseigener Betrieb Fahrzeug- und Gerätewerk Simson Suhl.

Production of sporting guns, prams and bicycles slowly resumed, but the main focus was again on making motorcycles.

[13] The 425 has overhead valves in a V-formation,[13] has a four-speed transmission, shaft final drive[13] and has a duplex cradle frame.

The original 425 model had plunger rear suspension, a 6.7:1 compression ratio, produced 12 bhp and had a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

In 1953 a racing version of the plunger-framed model was produced as the AWO 425 R.[22] It was not offered for sale to the public and only 15 examples were built.

[24] Alongside the fast and proven single cylinder engine, Simson also developed a 250 cc parallel twin.

[25] In road racing in the 1950s MZ won numerous international victories,[24] but Simson's wins were confined to domestic competition.

[26] Simson developed a version of its single-cylinder engine enlarged to 350 cc for Enduro and Motocross competition.

[25] The enlarged GS engine produced such good performance that Simson decided to make it in larger numbers for competition machines to sell to club riders.

[25] By the time Simson four-stroke production was ended at the end of 1961, the Simson works team had won competitions both in the DDR and abroad, and because of its competitiveness and reliability the GS model was used to equip the DDR's national Six Days Trial team.

[25] The Simson Eskorte was a limited-production model built in 1957 for the DDR's Ministerium des Innern (MDI or "Ministry of the Interior") and for the Volkspolizei.

[29] The DDR's Volkswirtschaftsrat ("People's Economic Council") terminated Simson four-stroke manufacture on 31 December 1961.

[25] In 1955, the year that the Simson brand name was restored, the factory also began making two-stroke mopeds.

[39] In 1967 the Spatz was revised as the SR 4-1 SK, which shared the Star's 40 x 39.5 mm engine dimensions but had an 8.5:1 compression ratio and produced 2.3 bhp.

[41] In 1966 Simson introduced the SR 4-3 Sperber ("Sparrowhawk"), with the same 50 cc engine but with power increased to 4.6 bhp and more angular styling than the Spatz and Star.

The Schwalbe helped the company to worldwide fame, and in the DDR the scooter stood for the success of East German two-wheeler motor manufacturing.

[49] Its successor was the S 51, in which Simson revised the styling again and returned to a long-stroke engine, this time with 38 x 44 mm dimensions and a 3.7 bhp output.

This included commercial production of Makarov PM pistols, which the factory had previously made under the Ernst Thälmann name for DDR Nationale Volksarmee ("National People's Army") and police use.

Hotzenblitz is a portmanteau word derived from the Hotzenwald region of the Southern Black Forest around Ibach and blitz, German for "lightning".

[61] In 1996 Simson revived the Star model name for a new 50 cc scooter that had more curvaceous, fully enclosed bodywork.

The machine has a space frame and is powered by a Honda four-stroke 15 bhp engine built under licence in Taiwan.

On 1 February 2003, bankruptcy proceedings were held, in the wake of which the remaining 90 employees were made redundant without any compensation.