A lot of earlier pre-WWII Merkels O/U guns seem to have the 'Suhler Waffenwerk' mark on the right side of the gun, just wondering if this continued into the E. German era?

As fa as I know, the Gebrüder Merkel were expropriated after the Communists came to power. Since January 1950 they operated under the name "VVB MEWA Gebrüder Merkel".

Cheers,
Gunwolf