As General Director, Georg Manasse was one of the closest confidants of the brothers Simon and Salman Schocken and played a significant role in the successful development of the Schocken department store group based in Zwickau (Saxony). A committed social democrat and pacifist, he joined the German League for Human Rights early on and took on a leading role in Saxony from 1923. Among his closest friends were the doctor Karl Eskuchen, Rabbi Fritz Leopold Steinthal, and the siblings Anna and Hans Siemsen. He was connected with the later Saxon Prime Minister Max Seydewitz, Rabbi Leo Baeck, the writer Joachim Ringelnatz, the sculptor Renée Sintenis, and the art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt. As a citizen of the city of Zwickau, he was actively involved in supporting the local Jewish community and served as a board member of the Israelite Religious Community.