Heinz Graffunder

Heinz Graffunder
Heinz Graffunder (1974)
Born	23 December 1926 Berlin, Germany
Died	9 December 1994 Berlin, Germany
Occupation	Architect
Political party	SED

Heinz Graffunder (born and died in Berlin: 23 December 1926 - 9 December 1994) was a German architect.

Heinz Graffunder as born into a working-class family in Berlin. His father worked as a Pipefitter. Like others of his generation, the final part of his schooling was due to the pressures of World War II. He was then conscripted into the German army, which led to a period as a prisoner of war. The war itself ended approximately five months after his eighteenth birthday with Berlin occupied by Soviet troops. They would remain in the eastern part of what remained of Germany for nearly five decades. On his release Graffunder undertook an apprenticeship in the building trade.

In October 1949 the German Democratic Republic was formally launched out of what had previously been better known as the Soviet occupation zone, although the basis for a return to one-party government had already been set in place with the creation of a ruling party back in 1946: in reality building the new country was an iterative process lasting many years, and involving a necessarily massive building boom. Between 1949 and 1952 Graffunder studied architecture at the city's Building Academy (Vereinigten Bauschulen von Groß-Berlin) After that, between 1952 and 1967, he worked as an architect and city planner. He was employed as department head with Berlin's "VEB Development Project Support" organisation ("Bauprojektbetreuung Groß-Berlin") and with its various successor entities.

Graffunder is remembered, in particular, for the impact of his work on the north-eastern part of Berlin, but he also received commissions from outside the German Democratic Republic. During the years up to 1967 he was responsible for the following construction projects: