[3][4] Georgi was born into a working-class family on Christmas Day 1927 in a small industrial town in the heart of Saxony's rich mining region, some 20 km (12 miles) north-west of the German frontier with Bohemia.
[2] Before his eighteenth birthday the war ended and Saxony now found itself in the Soviet occupation zone of what remained of Germany.
[2] His doctoral dissertation, reflecting his job, was entitled "Problems of the further development of product-group work at VVB EBM to ensure needs-focused production in the entire industry branch".
From the perspective of Western observers, the industry sector-specific ministers came into focus when they appeared on East German stands at international trade fairs.
[3] The construction of heavy plant and equipment was a traditional strength of the German economy which by now the Comecon planners were keep to promote, and Georgi was evidently good at his job, since unusually among his industry minister colleagues in 1976, he was still in post in 1989.