Reporter Christian Liebig lost his life on 7 April 2003 at the age of 35 during an Iraqi attack on a US supply depot near Baghdad. He had accompanied the 3rd US infantry division from Kuwait right up to the Iraqi capital and had been reporting from the crisis zone since the start of March for the news magazine FOCUS. When a group of tanks entered the war-torn city centre, he remained in the depot, believing it to be the safest option. He, a Spanish colleague and three US soldiers were killed by an Iraqi missile.

Upon completion of his studies, Christian Liebig worked for three years with the foreign news desk of news agency AP, joining FOCUS in 1999. He regularly reported from areas of poverty and crisis, including Kosovo and Congo, famine-ridden Ethiopia and a Somalia torn apart by civil war. “He was so moved by the plight of the children in Ethiopia that he considered devoting his energies to an international aid organisation,” explained FOCUS editor-in-chief Helmut Markwort at the memorial ceremony held on 15 April 2003 in Munich.

Christian Liebig was robbed of his dream of helping the people in developing countries, and above all in Africa. The goal of the Christian Liebig Foundation is to put into practice his vision for helping the people of Africa to help themselves.