Georg Dertinger

Who was Georg Dertinger?

Georg Dertinger was a German politician from the German Democratic Republic.

He was born in Berlin into a middle-class Protestant family. Dertinger briefly studied law and economics. After his study he became a journalist and later editor for the Magdeburger Volkszeitung and the nationalistic newspaper Stahlhelm. He broke with the Stahlhelm because of its rigid right-wing philosophy. He sympathized with the German National People's Party, a right-wing nationalist party.

Dertinger later became a member of the political circle around Chancellor Franz von Papen. He accompanied Papen to Rome as a journalist, a representative for the Hamburger Nachrichten, for the signature of the Concordat between Germany and the Holy See, shortly after Hitler became Chancellor.

In 1934 Dertinger returned to Berlin and became publisher of Dienst aus Deutschland, a news agency that provided news to foreign newspapers.

After World War II Dertinger co-founded the Christian Democratic Union in the SBZ of Germany. From 1946 to 1949 he was General Secretary of the East-German CDU and from 1949 to 1953 Vice-Chairman of the party.