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The Schimmel family remains as shareholder with an increased presence in the company. In addition to strengthening Schimmel’s production facilities in Braunschweig and Kalisz, the company is now well positioned for global growth. In 2016, Schimmel entered into a strategic alliance with Pearl River, the largest piano manufacturer in the world. Against the backdrop of the outstanding instrument quality of the newly developed Konzert range of Schimmel pianos, Hannes Schimmel-Vogel set new targets and created the perfect conditions for this traditional family business to stand its own ground in the face of international competition in the twenty-first century. Schimmel-Vogel, who will now carry on the family business in its fourth generation. Schimmel handed over the management of the company to his soninlaw, Hannes M. Luckily, Brunswick belonged to the Fed­eral Republic of Germany (West Germany), while Leipzig became part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). This proved to be a very fortunate decision, because 20 years later Germany was divided. Wilhelm Arno Schimmel decided to moved to Brunswick in 1931 and began manufacturing under the name Wilhelm Schimmel, Pianofortefabrik GmbH.

To add to its problems, the piano industry now had to compete with the radio and the gramophone.

The runaway inflation of 1923, followed by the Great Depression, resulted in a drastically curtailed production. In its best years, the annual production of the German piano industry prior to the Great War (later referred to as World War I) had been about 180,000 units. 25, 1929, initiating the Great Depres­sion. This took place as the world economy was going through a difficult phase, culmi­nating two years later in the Great Stock Market Crash on “Black Friday”, Oct. In 1927, at the age of 73, Wilhelm Schimmel retired from active management of the company, passing the mantle to his son, Wilhelm Arno Schimmel.