Civil rights & activism / Press & broadcasting
John Sieg
1903–1942 · journalist, railroad worker, resistance fighter
Detroit-born son of a German mechanic who became a Berlin journalist and a core member of the anti-Nazi resistance network the Gestapo called the Red Orchestra.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Berlin, Germany
aged 39- Detroit years
- 1903–1912, 1923–1928
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Sieg was born in Detroit in 1903, the son of a German immigrant mechanic. After his father died in 1912 he went to live with his grandfather in Germany and became a German citizen in 1920. When his grandfather's death in 1923 ended his teacher training, he returned to Detroit, where he worked while studying and met his wife Sophie in 1924. In 1928 the couple left for Berlin, where he wrote for the newspaper Die Tat and the Communist Die Rote Fahne. Briefly detained by storm troopers in 1933, he went on to organize resistance groups in the Neukölln district and, as a railway worker, used his travel passes to link networks across Germany. He helped produce the underground paper Die Innere Front and worked closely with Arvid Harnack and Adam Kuckhoff. Arrested by the Gestapo in October 1942, he took his own life in custody four days later rather than risk betraying his comrades.
Highlights
- Born in Detroit in 1903
- Lived in Detroit again from 1923 to 1928
- Core member of the Red Orchestra resistance network
- Co-produced the underground paper Die Innere Front