Christian and Paul Voelkner were pipe organ builders and owners of an organ building company, which operated at the turn of the 19<sup>th</sup> and 20<sup>th</sup> centuries. Originally, based in Duninowo () in Pomerania, the firm transferred and expanded in 1906 to Bydgoszcz ().
The Voelkner family had been living in Dünnow since 1734, working as teachers, organists, and sextons.
Christian Friedrich Voelkner was born in 1831 and was the son of a local farmer and municipal headman. In his youth, he used to help his father, who was a carpenter by trade and occasionally a piano tuner. Young Christian particularly enjoyed tuning instruments and soon decided to build an organ for the local church of Dünnow. However, daunted by such a challenging task for an unexperienced lad, Christian went first on an apprenticeship at the Buchholz pipe organ workshop in Berlin.
In 1859, Paul's father returned to Dünnow and founded the C. F. Voelkner Dünnow i. Pom. pipe organ firm. He once again resumed working on his unfinished instrument, which proved to be a complete success. This first organ went to be installed in the church of Charnowo (then Arnshagen). Soon, the young entrepreneur began receiving new commissions, which he completed either alone or with the help of a relative. Christian's workshop was set up in a building belonging to his father. All the work was done by hand, as he didn't possess yet any machinery.
After the end of the Franco-Prussian War in January 1871, the demand for organs in Eastern Pomerania swelled. Thanks to government support, many church communities were able to replace their instruments with new ones. As a result, more and more orders flowed into Voelkner's company. Soon, as a result of his diligence and reliable work, Christian was able to purchase a plot of land to build his own house with an adjoining workshop. By this time, he was employing three assistants. Voelkner's carefully crafted, fine-sounding instruments brought him fame beyond its home Pomeranian region, in other regions of German Empire (e.g. Koszalin district, then Köslin). In 1876, Christian Voelkner built a larger factory and a year later he purchased his first machinery. With the number of employees steadily increasing, the company produced its 100<sup>th</sup> organ in 1888.
Christian Voelkner died on 31 July 1905. He was buried in the cemetery of Duninowo.
Paul Berthold Voelkner was born on 25 February 1869 in Duninowo. In 1900, Christian passed his business on to his son, Paul, who was already well-versed in the art of organ making. Under his management, the manufactoring plant continued to expand. In order to meet the growing demand, the business employed approximately 20 organ builders: this workforce allowed to produce an average of 10 new organs per year.
The first realisation of Paul's firm was delivered to the newly built Catholic church in Koczaà Âa. Voelkners' instruments were now transported to distant places: a German traveler, stopping in Dar es Salaam, discovered there a church equipped with the company's organ (P.B. Voelkner-Dünnow). He completed several semesters at the Königliche Hochschule in Charlottenburg. In 1899, he married Elisabeth Caroline Barbara, née Bösel (or Böse). By 1903, the company produced its 200<sup>th</sup> organ. Around that time, the firm issued a catalogue displaying the panel of its instruments, Katalog der Kirchenorgel-Bauanstalt mit Dampfbetrieb von P.B. Voelkner, Dünnow, Kr. Stolp i. Pomm. ().
Shortly after Paul Voelkner's father death, the factory burned to the ground during the night from 17 to 18 January 1906. Although Voelkner was safe, being away on a business trip, he remained steadfast and decided to sell the plot and build a newer plant, not in Duninowo, but in the larger town of Bydgoszcz (then Bromberg). Once completed, the new facility employed approximately 50 workers and could produce yearly an average of 30 modern, pneumatic church pipe organs.
The factory was located at '100 DanzigerstraÃÂe' (today's 140 Gdaà Âsk Street), the store at '158 DanzigerstraÃÂe' (today's 24 Gdaà Âsk Street), while Paul and his family lived at '5/6 BleichfelderstraÃÂe' (today's Chodkiewicza Street). At the end of World War I, the re-born state of Poland took over the control of Bydgoszcz. As a German firm, Voelkner's company soon saw its operations inescapably dwindling. Paul sold his property to a Polish businessman whi set up a carpentry workshop in the ancient factory premises. Some of the plant's equipment was purchased by Paul's apprentice, Mieczysà Âaw Wybraà Âski. The latter founded his own organ company in 1924.
Paul Voelkner subsequently settled on an estate in Garczegorze near LÃÂbork (Pomerania). In 1924, he left Poland but his subsequent fate remains unknown.
The P. Voelkner firm in Duninowo was the successor of C. F. Voelkner Dünnow i. Pom firm. It moved to Bydgoszcz at the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century and built in total several hundred organs between 1900 and 1916, mainly delivered in the German Empire provinces of West Prussia, Western Pomerania and Posen.