was born in Mährisch-Ostrau in 1893. During the 1920s, he was one of Berlin’s most sought-after press illustrators, documenting social and political life as well as numerous sporting events for the major daily newspapers. He was also a successful painter – his works were featured in exhibitions and galleries in many cities throughout Germany.

After the Nazi seizure of power, he lost his livelihood due to his Jewish heritage and fled to Prague in 1938. In 1941, he was deported to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto and later to the Auschwitz and Gleiwitz I concentration camps. As a survivor, he documented the horrors of the Holocaust  in haunting drawings and paintings  following his liberation. As a result of Nazi-art-looting, the vast majority of his early works created in Germany and Czechoslovakia were either lost or destroyed.

Lilli Fischel Part 2 - Her Struggle for Modern Art
Following the director’s death in 1927, Lilli Fischel took over the leadership of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Continuing a modern acquisition policy, she quickly came under fire from völkisch circles, which heavily criticized her acquisitions of contemporary and international art. Immediately after the Nazi seizure of power, she was dismissed from civil service in April 1933 due to her Jewish heritage and was banned from practicing her profession.

To escape the threat of persecution, Lilli Fischel emigrated to Paris, where she worked in the private art trade. Following the Wehrmacht's invasion of France, she returned to Germany in 1939 and built a new life as an art dealer in Munich under precarious conditions.