author

Goetz A. (Goetz Antony) Briefs

1889–1974

A German-born economist and Catholic social thinker, he wrote about labor, social order, and the moral questions raised by modern industrial life. After leaving Nazi Germany, he continued his academic work in the United States and remained an influential voice in Catholic social thought.

1 Audiobook

Deutsches Leben der Gegenwart

Deutsches Leben der Gegenwart

by Paul Bekker, Goetz A. (Goetz Antony) Briefs, Max Scheler, Arnold Sommerfeld, Philipp Witkop

About the author

Born in 1889, Götz A. Briefs was a German political economist, social philosopher, and Catholic social theorist. His work focused on the relationship between economics, labor, society, and ethics, and he became known for writing seriously about the human consequences of modern economic systems.

After building his career in Germany, he emigrated after the rise of the Nazi regime and continued his scholarly life in the United States. Archival records at Georgetown University document his long academic career and papers, reflecting the breadth of his interests in economics, social ethics, and public life.

Briefs died in 1974. He is remembered less as a narrowly technical economist than as a thinker who tried to connect economic life with moral responsibility and the common good.