Karl Grünheid

Karl Grünheid (20 July 1931 – 9 January 2004) was a German civil servant and politician of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Grünheid notably served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers' Economic Committee, successor of the State Planning Commission, in the new transitional government of Hans Modrow during the Peaceful Revolution.

Life and career Early career Grünheid, the son of a bricklayer, completed his education after attending elementary and high school, earning his high school diploma. From 1950 to 1952, he trained as a bricklayer. In 1952, as an apprentice at the VEB Bau (a state-owned construction company), he worked on the high-rise building at Weberwiese and Stalinallee and criticized the deficiencies in the Berlin construction industry at the Berlin Construction Workers' Conference.

From 1952 to 1956, he studied at the Hochschule für Ökonomie Berlin (University of Economics), earning a degree in economics (Dipl.-Ök.).

Grünheid was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in Silver in 1975, in Gold in 1981 Grünheid was promoted to Minister for Mechanical Engineering in the transitional government of Hans Modrow. In January 1990, he was made chairman with minister rank of the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers – full title being Economic Committee for the Implementation of an Economic Reform –, successor of the State Planning Commission.

Grünheid died in 2004 at the age of 72. He was buried in the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery in Berlin.