Gözt was founded in Roedental, Germany, in 1950 by Marianne and Franz Götz. (Roedental is also the hometown of Zapf, another well-known German doll manufacturer.) The first dolls were made of paper mâche by family members and sold directly by Franz Götz. In 1964, Götz was the first doll manufacturer to produce artist dolls by reproducing originals by well-known Swiss doll artist Sasha Morgenthaler, the Sasha line. In 1987, an American subsidiary of Götz was opened in Baldwinsville, NY; it was later closed in 2004.