Georg Klaus (28 December 1912,

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

– 29 July 1974,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was a German philosopher, cybernetician,

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

master, and functionary. In 1928, he started his chess career in

, playing at ''Arbeiterschachklub Nürnberg'', then ''Nürnberger Schachklub Noris''. In 1933, he won in the Franconian championships. In that time, he began to study mathematics at the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

in 1932, and became a member of the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

(KPD). In 1933, he was arrested by Nazis, and spent two years in a Nuremberg prison and three years in the

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

, until 1939. After his releasing, he worked in a factory (''Faber-Castell bzw. Schwan-Bleistift''), and again played chess in Nuremberg (''Schachklub Noris''). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he took 2nd, behind Friedrich Nürnberg, in Regensburg in March/April 1942 (the South German championship), shared 2nd with Hans Müller, behind

Ludwig Rellstab Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Rellstab (13 April 179927 November 1860) was a German poet and music critic. He was born and died in Berlin. He was the son of the music publisher and composer Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab. An able pianist, he publi ...

, in Bad Oeynhausen in June/July 1942 (the 9th

German Chess Championship The German Chess Championship has been played since 1861, and determines the national champion. Prior to 1880, three different federations organized chess activities in Germany: the ''Westdeutscher Schachbund'' (WDSB), the ''Norddeutscher Schachbund ...

), and took 4th in Bad Krynica in November/December 1943 (the 4th

General Government chess tournament General Government chess championships (''Schachmeisterschaft des Generalgouvernements'') were Nazi tournaments held during World War II in occupied central Poland. Hans Frank, the Governor-General of General Government, was the patron of those to ...

Josef Lokvenc Josef Lokvenc (1 May 1899, Vienna – 2 April 1974, Sankt Pölten) was an Austrian chess master. In 1925, he was awarded the Chess Master title in Braunau. In 1926, he took 3rd in Vienna. In 1936, he tied for 6-7th in Vienna (19th Trebitsch-Tu ...

won). In October 1942, he was drafted into the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

, and sent to the Eastern Front in March 1943. He fought in the Kharkov region and in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...

in July 1943. He was injured in combat, and awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

, 2nd Class. Then, he spent several weeks in a field hospital in Bad Blankenburg, Thuringia. In March 1945 he was in the Western Front, and after

Western Allied invasion of Germany The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Allies of World War II, Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II, European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied ...

, he had been taken into Allied captivity. From April to September 1945, he was kept in an American army camp (''Lager 2227'') in

Ostend, Belgium Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

. After his release on September 2, 1945, he returned to Nuremberg, and next to Bad Blankenburg, then the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

. In February 1946, he became a political functionary of KPD and the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...

(SED) in Sonneberg, Thüringen. He received a doctorate of pedagogy (1948), and a

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in philosophy (1950) from the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

, Thuringia. In 1953, he played in a friendly match GDR vs. Bulgaria in Sofia, and was the ''Präsident der Sektion Schach der DDR'' in 1953/54. From 1953, he worked at the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, and from 1959 in the

Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic The German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, german: Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (DAW), in 1972 renamed the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (AdW)''), was the most eminent research institution ...

. Klaus published in 1963 a collection of papers on "Cybernetics in Science, Technology, and Economics in the GDR." After fighting a running battle with bureaucracy in the journals from 1963 on, Klaus was asked to prepare a "Cybernetic Dictionary" as his contribution to the Seventh Congress of the SED in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klaus, Georg 1912 births 1974 deaths German chess players Sportspeople from Nuremberg German male writers University of Jena alumni University of Erlangen-Nuremberg alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin 20th-century chess players 20th-century German philosophers German Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States