Walter Fischer, Graphic Artist, (1911-1982)

Walter Fischer was born on the 3rd of April in Weißbach (Saxony), county of Zschopau, as the 2nd born child of plumber Max Bruno Fischer and his wife, Barbara Theresa. Weißbach is located a few kilometers southeast of Chemnitz. The family has lived in Chemnitz since 1914. From 1917 on, Walter Fischer attended primary school in Chemnitz for 8 years.  In his own words, he became well-known for his fascination with sketching the objects around him.
In 1925, at his own request, he started an apprenticeship as a lithographer in the Graphic Arts Institute Theo Wimmer in Chemnitz.
Lithography is a procedure of printing on stone, which as a profession, no longer exists. A lithographer´s job was to transfer a most accurate reproduction of the master copy onto the lithograph reproduction. A lithographer had to set the texts and images to be printed on lithographic stone manually and laterally reversed. A lithographer was required to have good drawing skills and needed a good color perception.

W. Fischer (middle) as an apprentice

Portrait "ald jew "
Dissertation as a Lithographer

As a member of illegal circles in the Nazi era, Walter Fischer helped to funnel persecuted people through the then "green border" into the CSR.
Of his artistic works from these times some drawings and some postcard-sized images are preserved.
In 1939 with the outbreak of World War II Walter Fischer was drafted into the armed forces. Due to his training he was deployed as a cartographer.
Usually far behind the front,  the object of these maps was to update reproduce the formations and positions of the combat troops on maps.
He was stationed in Holland, Belgium and France. In France, confrontations with the Nazi regime occurred. For refusing to perform the Nazi salute in the presence of French civilians, he was imprisoned at St. Malo for 14 days. There is a pencil drawing of the view from his cell window.

Postcard app.1929

After his release, he was court-martialled again and charged with multiple incidents. One accusation, among others, was his treatment of the enemy civilian population. By painting French civilians he was accused of treating them in a friendly manner not appropriate. Fortunately, he had gained some sympathy through his paintings and the portrait work in his unit‘s officer circles, so that the punishment was converted into a forced relocation to the eastern front.
In 1942 he escaped a further indictment in the Soviet Union, when  he  refused a promotion to the rank of sergeant. Just before his arrest the responsible unit was eliminated by the Soviet army and the cartography office was subsequently disbanded. He was put in march towards Smolensk with a medical transport and later returned to Germany due to frostbite injury. There are a number of well-preserved pencil drawings from this period. For the most part they show landscapes and people at work.

Bernovo app. 1942

After his recovery, Walter Fischer was assigned to a cartography battery of the Army Group South, which was stationed in Torri del Garda (Italy) at Lago di Garda. The landscape at Lake Garda inspired him to numerous works of pencil, pastel and ink drawings, some of which are still preserved. There is a photograph from this period, which portrays him sketching a local person. After some time,  he began to face similar problems  as he experienced in France. For illicit relations with the Italian population - who now after the downfall of Mussolini were treated as an enemy -  he came under suspicion and was going to be sentenced to military detention in Verona. By now he had learned some Italian and established contact with the Committee for National Liberation CLN, which he had already supplied with maps and information.
In May 1944, Walter Fischer deserted the army, and participated in the partisan struggle in the northern part of Italy until the capitulation of the German troops. All drawings that illustrate this time were created in later years from memory. Some of these works are in possession of the Museums of Chemnitz, others in private hands.

W. Fischer when painting
in Torri del Benaco

The capitulation of the German Army in Italy on April 29th 1945, Walter Fischer witnessed near the village of Rolo in the Emilia-Romagna region. The town is located about 40 km north of Modena at today's  motorway E 45 (A 22). Here he had been living since the time of his desertion. It was his plan to stay in Italy and live as an independent artist. Therefore,  it was necessary to obtain a so-called Certificate. The support of the ANPI (Associazione Nazionale dei Partigiani d'Italia) allowed him to complete a private preparatory course for language and art history education, which was recognized as a prerequisite for admission to an art school.
Early in 1946 he began his studies at the School of Art "Adolfo Venturi" in Modena and by the end of the semester he received a diploma in painting and sculpting. During this time Walter Fischer lived in Modena, Rolo and Fabbrico. Many works, especially portraits of members of the families amongst whom he had lived are still preserved by these families, even though many of them were produced on surfaces which previously served as wrapping paper or for the production of sacks.

Portrait Tosca 1945
(oil on canvas)

ANPI Document

In letters to his former guerrilla commander Agostino, he describes in dramatic terms the conditions of life in Germany, and his firm intention to return to Italy as soon as possible:
"I wanted to return as soon as I had seen the disaster and destruction. Now it is winter, and I must be patient until next spring. As you know, I am determined to return to Italy ... [January 1947 ]
"Since I'm back here, I have not found the necessary calm and peace of mind to devote myself to private life or the arts ...... Here we are governed by them (the Communists) under the guise of democracy. If your Communists only knew how life is when ruled by the Russians or as they say „protected“  ... Propaganda is all that is left, just like in Nazi times; even the Leipzig Trade Fair is nothing but a propaganda exhibition "the land of the little Potemkin." [March 1947].
His attempt to return to Italy in the summer of 1947 (with his wife and son) failed. Due to lack of documents and authorizations, he was sent back to Chemnitz, in the SBZ (Soviet Occupation Zone).
"It took me a long time to fight my way through Bavaria but I only got as far as the Alps. Perhaps one day ... [October 1947].

Waiting room 1948
pencildrawing

Polytechnc lessons 1959

Boarder guard 1963
(sec. Version)

It is remarkable that until the mid-60s he virtually never painted any landscapes or still lifes. In keeping with the party and government line, he portrays primarily people, groups of people, and their interactions in their working and social environment. For several years he acts as the head of a painting circle in the Fritz Heckert Factory in Karl-Marx-Stadt.
A  major project of the early 60s, now lost,  was the design of a wall at the staircase to the open air stage of Küchwald. Similar works (also lost) were created for kindergardens, schools, and a clinic in Karl-Marx-Stadt.
In the 60s, W. Fischer went on several study trips to various countries including Bulgaria and Uzbekistan, and on a cruise to Oslo, Helsinki and Gdansk. Inspired by this experience of visiting other countries and meeting the local people, he developed a new style, free from ideology and socialistic human imagery. Landscape studies and numerous portraits were created, especially in Uzbekistan.

Freilichtbühne Küchwald 1963
(bigger pict.: 2001)

Many of his politically motivated works were created on behalf of public institutions, and are clearly due to his position as Chairman of the Union of Artists. Thus, on the issue of the Vietnam War, he clearly sided against the USA in some paintings. In the mid-60s he started to create pencil drawings, which reflect his time as a partisan. During this time he often worked as an interpreter for Italian delegations. Most of them are union emissaries from Italy, who visit East Germany at the invitation of the GDR union FDGB.
His past as a partisan arouses the interest of Chemnitz writer John Arnold. On behalf of the GDR military publishing house, a publication is produced, in which the time of his desertion from the armed forces and the subsequent months as an Italian partisan are viewed in a prosaic light and reappraised. The story is published in 1968 as volume 83 in the so-called ‘fact series’ by the German military publishing house under the title "Capitano Tedesco".
In 1967, at age 56 he resigns from the chair of the Association of Visual Artists to continue working exclusively as a freelancer.

Capitano Tedesco
J.Arnold

Uzbek girl 1965

In 1972, he embarked on a study trip to Egypt upon private invitation. During the two-month stay, a number of sketches and impressions come into being, which are further processed until the early 80s and transformed into larger works. Besides numerous portraits (Bedouin Sheikh, Young Fellah, Reading Nubian, Egyptian Madonna) many landscapes are also created on domestic travels to Alexandria and into the Libyan desert.
In 1974 and 1975, an exhibition 'Egypt, Land and People'  of forty of his pastel drawings and works in oil and watercolor is presented at various locations in the district of Karl-Marx-Stadt. 
In the mid-70s, a cycle of pictures once again addresses the time of the partisan battles.

Egyptian Madonna 1974

In 1977 in Civago, a small town in the Italian Apennines, a monument dedicated to the partisans of Reggio Emilia is inaugurated. At the invitation of ANPI, many former partisans were present, one of which was Walter Fischer from the GDR. Unfortunately, the entire organizational process was strictly regulated so that there was no opportunity to visit former friends in the Modena or Rolo area. He presented the ANPI with two pastel drawings, showing snapshots from the days of partisan battles. In the GDR, detailed reports on this meeting were given later in the journal ,DDR-Revue‘ (which was also published internationally) as well as in several national newspapers.
In 1977, at 66 years of age, Walter Fischer has been retired for 6 years, and thus entitled to travel freely. In the following years he often makes use of this possibility to visit his relatives in West-Germany. Plans to visit the village Rolo in Italy are unfortunately never realized, although close correspondence is kept up with his former comrade Agostino.

Partisan meeting to night

Exhibition catalouge 1981

While on vacation in Slovakia in 1981 a lung disease is detected and after further investigation in Karl-Marx-Stadt he is diagnosed with a serious illness.

In September 1981, after this vacation, another 6 pastel drawings are created with the title Slovak landscapes. In April 1982 he paints his last picture. It is a still life with yellow daffodils.

Walter Fischer died on the seventh of June in 1982. He was buried in the municipal cemetery of Karl-Marx-Stadt. A plaque in the memorial grove for socialists from the GDR era is in his remembrance.

Yellow narcissi 1982

In 2005, as part of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Rolo, another exhibition of W. Fischer's paintings was organized. The Rolo municipal administration published a flyer presenting Walter Fischer as an artist and German partisan. The exhibition organizers also contacted art collections in Chemnitz and succeeded in presenting several photocopies of paintings created in the GDR.

Exhibition flyer

In 2012, a companion book to the permanent exhibition "Picture Gallery of Chemnitz History" was published by the Friends of the Schloßbergmuseum Chemnitz e.V. The accompanying book contrasts the painting entitled "Flowers for Reconstruction," a characteristic politically commissioned work of art from the 1960s, with a pair of kissing punks from the 1980s.

In this exhibition, the painting "Flowers for Reconstruction," placed next to a typical worker's locker, is currently the only publicly exhibited work by Walter Fischer.

Picture from 1960 and view of the exhibition

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the liberation from fascism in 2015, the municipality of Rolo initiated a comprehensive exhibition documenting the political, social, and economic life in Rolo from 1914 to 1946.

Walter Fischer is prominently featured in the chapter on the anti-fascist resistance in Rolo. In the list of partisans of the ALDO department, he is listed by his nom de guerre, "Toreador," and one of his paintings is on display and also included in the catalog.

The exhibition and accompanying catalog are primarily the result of the initiative of the then City Councilor for Culture, Daniela Camurri, who also wrote the foreword to the beautifully designed exhibition catalog.

Exhibition catalogue 2015

To mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation, a documentary film was commissioned by ARTE.tv, addressing the topic of deserting Wehrmacht soldiers who joined the Italian partisans. Using three individual examples, the film explores the traces of these soldiers. One of the three individuals is Walter Fischer.

The film was first broadcast on Arte.tv on June 10, 2025, and is also available in the Arte media library until further notice.

Display case and pictures in the community hall 2024

To produce the documentary film, a team traveled to Rolo and other sites in the Emilia region in 2024. The tour included visits to his former place of study in Modena, the Historical Institute in Regio, and various locations related to Walter Fischer's work.

The great reverence that is associated with the name Walter Fischer in all locations and is still evident today was remarkable.

In the small town of Rolo, he is honored as an outstanding figure in the history of the resistance. This was particularly evident during a visit to the town hall. Pictures of him can be found permanently on the walls of the community hall and adjoining rooms. Even in the mayor's office hangs a copy of the famous self-portrait, his final project at the art school.

One could say that the mayor works under the watchful eye of Walter Fischer.

Portrait of the mayor and pictures in the hallway