Kurt Graunke was a German composer and conductor. Graunke was born in Stettin, Germany on September 20, 1915 and died June 5, 2005 in Munich, Germany. Kurt Graunke started studying violin at age 12 and became the second concertmaster at age 17 of the orchestra in Cammin, Pomerania. He studied violin and composition at the conservatoire in Berlin and became director of music of the air force music corps in Vienna. After the war he came to the bombed out Munich and founded his renowned orchestra Symphonie-Orchester Graunke (Kurt Graunke Symphony Orchestra) in September 1945 which he conducted and artistically directed until 1989. His orchestra played the music to many Hollywood movies and German movies in the 1950s and 1960s. Having lost his homeland – Stettin was now in Poland and inaccessible during the cold war – many of Graunke's compositions are yearning for his beloved homeland. His symphony no. 1 is named "Homeland" as homage to the beautiful Pomerania. However, Kurt Graunke never lost his spirit, joy and humour – after all he came from the country with the blue-white flag (Pomerania) to the country with the white-blue flag (Bavaria), so it was easy to adjust he said. Graunke's historical dances and other short pieces like the concert tango are of a light and joyful character. For his merits in culture he was awarded honours like the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit), Bavarian Order of Merit or "München leuchtet" in gold and silver.