Georg Stibi was born on 25 July 1901 in
Markt Rettenbach, the son of a
cobbler. After attending elementary school he worked as a farm labourer and industrial worker before becoming a journalist. In 1919, he joined the
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. In 1922, he joined the
Communist Party of Germany. Stibi then worked as a correspondent for the newspaper,
Die Rote Fahne. In February 1930, he was arrested for publishing about Germany's
secret and illegal rearmament, and sentenced to two years in prison for
treason. He was released from prison in May 1932. From 1937 to 1939 he took part in the
Spanish Civil War, where he presented German-language radio programs. In 1938, his German citizenship was revoked by the
Nazi government. Following the collapse of the
Second Spanish Republic at the conclusion of the war in 1939, Stibi travelled to France and was interned in
Camp Vernet. He was later transferred to
Camp des Milles, where he would escape from in 1941. Thereafter he emigrated to
Mexico. In Mexico, he joined the Free Germany Movement (BFD) and the Heinrich Heine Club; a group of German exiles living in Mexico that included
Anna Seghers,
Egon Kisch, and
Bodo Uhse, among others. In 1946, Stibi returned to Berlin and joined the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany. After serving as
editor-in-chief of the
Berliner Zeitung in 1949, he was editor-in-chief of the
Leipziger Volkszeitung from 1953 to 1954 and the editor-in-chief of
Neues Deutschland from 1955 to 1956. Stibi was the Deputy
Foreign Minister of East Germany from 1961 to 1974. He died on 30 May 1982 in Berlin. == Awards ==