George Engel (April 15, 1836 – November 11, 1887) was a labor union activist executed after the Haymarket riot, along with Albert Parsons, August Spies, and Adolph Fischer.

He married the same year, but found that the economic conditions in Germany made survival difficult, and so decided to follow his boyhood dream of emigrating to the United States.

Working at a factory, Engel first became acquainted with socialism when one of his coworkers took him to a meeting of the International Workingmen's Association.

A witness claimed that Engel had arranged a plan to storm and/or dynamite police stations and shoot policemen should trouble occur.

The following night, May 4, as the bombing took place, Engel was not in Haymarket Square, but was at home playing cards.