20th century German Makers

On all of the Ukuleles I have seen all of the labelling is in German so it is nothing to do with the Lyon & Healy Arion Guitars of the 1890's. On the soundboard it says "Arion" and underneath "Ges Gesch" which I'm told is a shortening of "gesetzlich geschützt" which literally means "Legally protected" and was used like TM to show the name was a registered trademark. There was a German Accordion maker called Arion in the early 1900's and I would think it a product of this firm but I have no information on them?

Günter Penzel was a German luthier whose father was also a luthier. Günter learned the trade from his father and by working for a number of the instrument makers, (Musima and some of the Migma luthiery shops), in the Markneukirchen area, starting in 1952. With the end of Communism he started his own workshop and made all manner of fretted chordophones, specialising in Lutes and bowl back Mandolins, but including flat top Mandolins, Guitars and Soprano Ukuleles. I believe he died in 2009.
I have read of a Guitar maker called Walter Penzel but he is a different person and to my knowledge no relation?

The label says Herdim, the headstock says Dick, this the firm of Heinrich Hermann Dick from Markneukirchen. The company was probably founded in 1848 and was a mail order business for a range of fretted and fretless chordophones. In the 1930s the catalogue was expanded to include gramophones and recording machines. What happened to the company in WWII and the Cold War I don't know but today there is a company, (or maybe more than one), called Herdim who make nylon plectrums, Violin chin rests and hand tools particularly for luthiery; and I know the hand tools, at least, come from the same area, (and the Dick name has been dropped)?

Instruments manufacturer and distributor from Breitenfeld, founded during the 1920s by Kurt Gropp as Vogtlandsperle. There were Ukuleles and Banjoleles in the pre war catalogue. After WWII there was some degree of independence from Musima, (I don't know how?) ukuleles were still being made and he introduced the Perlgold brand name, but still used the Vogtlandsperle name for some products

Riselonia were a maker of Banjos and Banjoleles in the early 1900's, They made other instruments too like Guitars and Mandolins but I've not seen a wooden Ukulele that I can definitely say they made. I believe they made early Gramophone players too but I have very little information on them beyond this, like where in Germany they were based, when they started or what finally happened to them?

Majestic seems to have been the house brand used on all type of instruments including Taropatchs, Tiples and Banjoleles. it is unclear what they made and what they just distributed, but they were a European distributor for Dallas and were distributed in the UK by Hand & Co.
Eugen Schuster were definitely a different firm than Gebrüder Schuster and the use of Majestic as a brand was nothing to do with Gaetano Puntolillo

They were a distributor and possible manufacturer of Ukuleles and Banjoleles amongst other instruments from Markneukirchen. I know one brand name they used for instruments was Cid. (it was used on Banjos certainly and probably other instruments but I don't know if it was ever used on Ukuleles?)
Gebrüder Schuster were definitely a different firm than Eugen Schuster.

Eduard Tauscher & Co was founded in 1889 in Erlbach. It started out as a family run workshop making Violins and continued, still in the family until it became part of Musima after WWII. I have also read that Musima continued to use the brand name and logo; and employed members of the Tauscher family to make the instruments until 1972. The name Taco was taken from shortening Tauscher & Co and the diamond logo was a 20th century design, (I don't know when it came into play but I have seen Taco branded instruments from before it). Though it started out as a Violin maker it went on to produce other chordophones and I have seen Guitars, Mandolins and Banjos with this branding as well as Ukuleles.

The company was founded in 1886 and in 1903 Otto Windisch's brother Paul joined. By the mid 1920s the two brothers were still running the company, manufacturing instruments, (but possibly not Ukuleles) as OW, Owi, Edelklang and Joachim Tielke as brands plus possibly Radionella. Windisch managed to survive WWII but the firm became part of Musima who used the Otwin name to brand some of their guitars in the 50's and 60's. 

Instrument manufacturer/distributor founded in 1854 and located in Markneukirchen. They used the brand name Cea on both Ukuleles and Banjoleles. They were integrated into Musima after WWII.