{{Short description|German politician (1902–1968)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Georg Dertinger |image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S88853, Georg Dertinger.jpg |image_size = 200px |order = Foreign Minister of the [[East Germany|GDR]] |term_start = 11 October 1949 |term_end = 15 January 1953 |predecessor = ''new office'' |successor = [[Anton Ackermann]] |birth_date = {{birth date|1902|12|25|df=y}} |birth_place = [[Berlin]], [[German Empire]] |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1968|1|21|1902|12|25}} |death_place = [[Leipzig]], [[East Germany]] |alma_mater = |spouse = |profession = [[Journalist]] |party = [[Christian Democratic Union (East Germany)|CDU]] }} '''Georg Dertinger''' (25 December 1902 – 21 January 1968) was a German politician.
He was born in [[Berlin]] into a middle-class [[Protestantism in Germany|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 ''[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Der Stahlhelm]]''. He broke with the Stahlhelm because of its rigid right-wing philosophy. He sympathized with the [[German National People's Party]], a [[Conservative Revolution|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 ''[[Reichskonkordat]]'' between [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Holy See]], shortly after [[Adolf Hitler]]'s [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power|rise to power]].
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 (East Germany)|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU) in the [[Soviet occupation zone 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. He supported the official line of co-operation with the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] and opposed the more independent-minded party chairman [[Jakob Kaiser]], whom he had deposed in December 1947.
Dertinger also joined the [[Cultural Association of the DDR]] ''(Kulturbund)'' and was a member of the Cultural Association's Presidential Council.
On 11 October 1949 he became [[East Germany]]'s first Minister of Foreign Affairs in [[Otto Grotewohl]]'s cabinet <ref>[http://www.rulers.org/egergovt.html rulers.org]</ref> However, he tended to be only a figurehead to secure CDU participation in the SED-dominated [[National Front of the German Democratic Republic|National Front]] and most important decisions would be made by his eventual successor [[Anton Ackermann]].<ref>Naimark, Norman M. ''The Russians In Germany: a History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945-1949.'' E-book, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995</ref> In 1950 he signed the [[Treaty of Zgorzelec|Oder-Neisse Treaty]] with [[Poland]], that arranged the [[Oder–Neisse line|borderline]] between East Germany and the [[Polish People's Republic]].
On 15 January 1953 Dertinger was arrested due to his allegedly harmful activities against East Germany<ref>{{cite book|author=Wilfried Loth |title=Stalin's Unwanted Child The Soviet Union, the German Question and the Founding of the GDR|year=1998|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London|isbn=978-1-349-26400-1|page=148|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26400-1|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-26400-1}}</ref> and in 1954 he was tried on a [[show trial]] for espionage, found guilty and sentenced to hard labor (15 years). In 1964 he was given [[amnesty]]. The years before his death he worked for the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] St. Benno publishing house.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *[http://www.zeit.de/2003/09/A-Dertinger An article on Dertringer (in German)] {{Foreign Ministers of Germany}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dertinger, Georg}} [[Category:1902 births]] [[Category:1968 deaths]] [[Category:Politicians from Berlin]] [[Category:German Protestants]] [[Category:German National People's Party politicians]] [[Category:Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) politicians]] [[Category:Foreign ministers of East Germany]] [[Category:Members of the Provisional Volkskammer]] [[Category:Members of the 1st Volkskammer]] [[Category:Prisoners and detainees of East Germany]]