[1] Son of a master upholsterer, Griebel began an apprenticeship as a decorative painter in 1909, and a short time later he moved to the Royal Drawing School in Dresden, where he met Otto Dix.
When the Estonian violinist Julius Eduard Sõrmus performed at KPD solidarity events in the 1920s, Griebel was one of his companions through Germany.
After the National Socialists came to power, Griebel was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and his work was classified as hostile communist art, but he was released after protest by the Secession.
[5] The 2012 Munich artworks discovery belonging to Cornelius Gurlitt, contained two works by Griebel: "Child at the Table" and the watercolour "The Veiled One".
[6][7] Despite his communist political views, Griebel managed to remain a mandatory member of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts.
Remarkably, he lived through the war years in Germany almost unharmed, even assisting around 20 Jewish men in escaping from the Tarnow ghetto.