Walter Spitzer, born June 14, 1927, in Cieszyn, Poland, came from a Jewish family that was not very observant but was attached to religious holidays. His father, Samuel Spitzer, a liqueur manufacturer, died in 1940, shortly before the family took refuge in Strzemieszyce Wielkie. In 1940, his brother Harry was arrested by the Germans.
In 1943, Walter was deported at the age of 16 to the Gross-Rosen camp, then to Blechhammer, attached to Auschwitz, where he received the tattoo 78489 and was separated from his mother, who was executed after an escape attempt. In January 1945, he took part in the death march to Buchenwald and, upon liberation, served as an interpreter for the American army.
At the end of 1945, Spitzer immigrated to France, lived for a time in Moissac with his friend Jules Fainzang, and continued his studies at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. He dedicated his artistic career to the memory of the Holocaust, becoming a renowned painter, lithographer, and sculptor. He had four children: Catherine, Anne, Benjamin, and Eva. Walter Spitzer died on April 13, 2021, in Paris, after battling Covid-19.
