 During the postwar period, in what had become the Soviet occupation zone, he was a co-founder, in 1948/49, of the anti-communist Combat Group against Inhumanity (""Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit"").Günther Birkenfeld was born in Cottbus and grew up in Berlin.He received his doctorate in 1923, and went on to work as an editor with the publishing house.