Walter Christaller (21 April 1893 – 9 March 1969) was a German geographer whose principal contribution to the discipline is central place theory,[1] first published in 1933.
[3][4] Before 1914, Christaller began studies in philosophy and political economics and subsequently served in the German Army during World War I.
Christaller's task was to draw up plans for reconfiguring the economic geography of Germany's eastern conquests (Generalplan Ost), primarily in Czechoslovakia and Poland but also, if successful, Russia itself.
Christaller was given special charge of planning occupied Poland, and he did so by using his central place theory as an explicit guide.
In 1950, Christaller, together with Paul Gauss and Emil Meynen, founded the German Association of Applied Geography (DVAG).