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Walter Spitzer (artist)

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Walter Spitzer
Born14 June 1927
Died13 April 2021(2021-04-13) (aged 93)
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationPainter

Walter Spitzer (14 June 1927 – 13 April 2021) was a Polish-born French artist and painter. He was a survivor of the Holocaust.

Biography

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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

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Book

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  • Les Auschwitz : témoignages (2012)[6]

Lithography

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  • L'Odyssée (1969)

Monuments

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References

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  1. ^ "Walter Spitzer". USC Shoah Foundation (in French).
  2. ^ "Cover for a set of etchings by Walter Spitzer inscribed by the artist". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  3. ^ "L'artiste Walter Spitzer, rescapé de la Shoah, est mort". Le Monde (in French). 14 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Walter Spitzer: Children in a Concentration Camp". Ghetto Figures House Archives.
  5. ^ "Décès de Walter Spitzer, artiste peintre français et survivant de la Shoah". The Times of Israël (in French). 14 April 2021.
  6. ^ Snyders, Georges; Spitzer, Walter (2012). Les Auschwitz : témoignages (in French). Rodéo d'âme. ISBN 978-2-9529128-9-1.