on the basis of a denunciation, the directors, hans stephan geibel and max a. geibel, sons of stephan geibel, were arrested in march 1950 and sentenced to prison by the district court of gera in october 1950. the firm's assets were confiscated by the state of thuringia at the turn of 1950-1951, which marked the end of the private enterprise, "pierer'schen hofbuchdruckerei stephan geibel & co."