Bruno Schlaffenberg, centre, with Polish Army comrades Janusz Nekanda-Trepka, who was to become an architect in Bloomsbury after the war, and Dolek Glet in the Middle East in 1943

BRUNO Schlaffenberg, who died at the age of 90, was the town planner whose radical vision helped shape today’s Camden.
Born in 1915 in Austria to Jewish parents, he grew up in Poland and was transferred to Siberia along with other Jews, by the Russians at the outbreak of World War II. Later, he was moved to the Middle East where he joined the Free Polish Army.
He later took part in the battle for the key monastery of Monte Casino during the allies’ drive through Italy in 1944.
Prior to the war, he had studied architecture in Rome and, when demobbed, settled in London to continue his career, marrying his Italian wife Irena in 1951.
He joined the old London County Council planning office, becoming a senior planning officer before moving to Camden Council on the authority’s creation in 1965.
At the time Camden was pursuing a policy of progressive urban renewal and Schlaffenberg’s radical inclinations made him ideal for the senior post in the borough’s planning department.
He opposed the orthodox thinking of the time – that town planning should be undertaken on a zonal basis.
He believed people should be able to live close to their places of work, and disapproved of wholly residential communities such as Hampstead Garden Suburb, the model estate built in 1906 without shops or places of employment.
His challenging beliefs did not find universal support among colleagues.
Veteran Labour councillor Roy Shaw said: “Bruno had a tremendous impact on members.
“One of the problems was his Polish accent. Councillors had to listen carefully to what he was saying in order to understand, and there were some people who hated him.
“But he was without doubt a visionary, a forceful and dynamic man who had a real effect on housing development in Camden. And that won him tremendous admiration.
“It is important that his contribution to the life of Camden is remembered.”
Benjamyn Damazer, whose father served with Mr Schlaffenberg during the war, remembers him as an essentially modest man. He said: “He and his wife lived a quiet retirement. This was quite intentional, to the point that he requested no official notices be placed for his funeral.”
A member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and of the Royal Town Planning, Mr Schlaffenberg died after a short illness.
His wife Irena, also an architect, died two years ago. They had no children.
RICHARD HODKINSON