Walter Spitzer (artist)
Walter Spitzer (14 June 1927 – 13 April 2021) was a Polish-born French artist and painter. He was a survivor of the Holocaust.
Walter Spitzer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 June 1927 |
| Died | 13 April 2021 (aged 93) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Painter |
Biography
Spitzer was born in Cieszyn on 14 June 1927. He lost his father, Samuel,[1] who died in February 1940 due to illness, and his mother, Gretta, to the Nazis. In June 1940, his family fled to Strzemieszyce Wielkie, where he worked as a photographer and welder. That year, his brother, Harry, was arrested by the Germans.[2] Walter himself was arrested in 1943 at the age of 16 and was sent to Gross-Rosen. He was then sent to Blechhammer and later Auschwitz, where he was separated from his mother.[3] He was tattooed with the number 78489. He then participated in the death marches in January 1945 before his liberation by the United States Army.[4]
After he was freed, Spitzer moved to France and studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. He then spent his career as a painter, while continuing to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.
Walter Spitzer died in Paris on 13 April 2021, at the age of 93, from COVID-19.[5]
Works
Book
- Les Auschwitz : témoignages (2012)[6]
Lithography
- L'Odyssée (1969)
Monuments
- Monument aux victimes des persécutions racistes et antisémites (15th arrondissement of Paris, 1995)
References
- "Walter Spitzer". USC Shoah Foundation (in French).
- "Cover for a set of etchings by Walter Spitzer inscribed by the artist". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
- "L'artiste Walter Spitzer, rescapé de la Shoah, est mort". Le Monde (in French). 14 April 2021.
- "Walter Spitzer: Children in a Concentration Camp". Ghetto Figures House Archives.
- "Décès de Walter Spitzer, artiste peintre français et survivant de la Shoah". The Times of Israël (in French). 14 April 2021.
- Snyders, Georges; Spitzer, Walter (2012). Les Auschwitz : témoignages (in French). Rodéo d'âme. ISBN 978-2-9529128-9-1.