GDR - Women Building Socialism: Female Architects of the Socialist World

EAST GERMANY (GDR)

Iris Dullin-Grund

Iris Dullin-Grund, born 1933 in Berlin, worked as an architect and an urban planner in the position of the “Stadtarchitekt” in Neu-Brandenburg. In this position, she was responsible for a lot of projects in the city, most famously for the “Kulturfinger” in the city centre.

Sigrid Albeshausen

Sigrid Albeshausen worked as an architect in Frankfurt/Oder, focussing on housing projects and social buildings. Since the late 1980s she was also political active until she resigned from her political activities in 2020.

Isolde Andrä

Isolde Andrä worked at the Institute for Urban Planning and Architecture at the German Building Academy of the GDR. She was also chairwoman of the Women’s Commission within the BdA and published a few articles.

Anita Bach

Anita Bach worked as an architect and professor in Weimar and became the first woman to habilitate in the GDR. Her work includes the participation in designing well-known buidlings in Weimar such as the student dormitory Jakobsplan or the “Mensa im Park”.

Ute Baumbach

Baumbach worked as an architect and urban planner mostly in Rostock, but also in Berlin or outside East Germany in Addis Abeba (Ethiopia). Together with her husband, she participated in numerous competitions.

Karola Bloch

Karola Bloch was born in 1905 in Lodz, Poland. After WWII she settled in Leipzig, together with her husband and her son, and continued wokring as an architect. During a journey to West-Germany the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, which is why the Blochs didn’t come back to the GDR.

Maria Dertinger

Maria Dertinger worked as a construction manager in East-Berlin and authored some smaller publications before she was improsined due to political because of political disputes between her husband and the SED, the CDU politician Georg Dertinger.

Marta Doehler-Behzadi

Marta Doehler-Behzadi worked as an architect and urban planner in Leipzig in the 1980s. After the reunification, she continued to work as an architect, urban planner and author.

Dorothee Dubrau

Dorothee Dubrau was active as an architect and urban planner, especially in East Berlin. She was also involved in the citizens’ initiative Luisenstadt (East Berlin). After reunification, she worked as an architect, politician and lecturer.

Iris Dullin-Grund

Ida (Liv) Falkenberg-Liefrinck

Liv Falkenberg-Liefrinck worked as an interior designer and architect in Zurich, Rotterdam and Paris before wokring in the GDR after WWII. She continued to work as a designer for a short while and worked as a cultural advisor, author and information officer afterwards.

Heidrun Fleege

Heidrun Fleege worked as an architect and preservationist mostly in Brandburg an der Havel and Potsdam. Also, she was actively involved in the protection of the old town of Brandenburg since the 1980s.

Ludmilla Herzenstein

Ludmilla Herzenstein worked as an architect mostly in Berlin and is known for the Laubenganghäuser there, which she designed together with Hans Scharoun. She continued working as an architect and urban planner until her retirement in 1971.

Eva-Maria Hetzer

The architect Eva-Maria Hetzer worked in Schwerin and the surrounding area. Her desings include the mourning hall in Schwerin, the Hotel “Stadt Schwerin” and the cinema in Güstrow.

Helga Hüller

Helga Hüller worked in the position of the “Stadtarchitekt” in Greifswald. Together with Iris Dullin-Grund and Sabine Rohleder she’s one of the few known female architects who reached this position. At this state of research there are not that many informations about her work in the city of Greifswald.

Margarete Jahny

Margarete Jahny worked as a designer, mostly with ceramic. Together with Erich Müller she desgined the famous coffee-set “Rationell”. She also worked as an educator at the Art Academy Weißensee until 1983.

Andrea Krüger-Sander

Andrea Krüger is an architect who was active in the office of the chief architect of Leipzig and in the group “NEUE UFER”, together with Angela Wandelt and others.

Sigrid Maciaszek

Sigrid Maciaszek is best known for her work as an architect and civil engineer in Eisenhüttenstadt, where she was also the chief city architect for a short time. She was also involved in the redesign of the town centres of Bernau and Fürstenwalde.

Sigrid Schaller

Sigrid Schaller was born in 1941 and worked in the city of Halle, where she was involved in many prominent projects in the inner city. She continued working as an architect after the end of the GDR until 2017.

Margarita Stefanenko

Originally from Moscow, Margarita Stefanenko worked in Berlin as an architect and interior designer. Among her best known projects are the interior design of the Hotel Stadt Berlin and the Friedrichstadtpalast.

Waltraud Volk

After studying art history in Berlin, Waltraud Volk became one of the few known women working in the field of historic preservation during GDR-times. Mostly working in Berlin, she also published numerous articles within this field.