Walter Peiser was born on 15 July 1899 in Posen (now Poznań, Poland) into an assimilated Jewish family. Between 1919 and 1921, he studied at art schools in Munich and Berlin, and from 1923 onwards worked as an artist and commercial designer in Berlin under the pseudonym Walter Preisser. During this period, he created woodcuts, book illustrations, and bookplates for the Maximilian Gesellschaft, the Soncino Society of Friends of the Jewish Book, and the Otto von Holten publishing house. His work showed the influence of Expressionism, evident in stark black-and-white contrasts, angular lines, and hatching, but also referenced fifteenth-century woodcut, seventeenth-century painting, and Japanese woodcut techniques.

Preisser had served as a volunteer on the front lines in France during the First World War. From this experience came his lifelong love of horses, developed while responsible for an artillery gun pulled by horses. In 1922, following the German-Polish Convention on Upper Silesia, he opted for German citizenship. As discrimination and persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany escalated, he decided to emigrate and was preparing to leave when events overtook him.

Arrest and Imprisonment

On 4 December 1938, Preisser and his non-Jewish partner were arrested and charged with "Rassenschande" (racial defilement) under Nazi racial policy. After three months in pre-trial detention at Plötzensee, he was sentenced to eighteen months' hard labour at Luckau Penitentiary. The prison governor, displaying a degree of humanity unusual for the time, allowed Preisser to retrieve his art materials and continue working. Preisser painted portraits of fellow prisoners until the governor confiscated them for violating regulations, though he had them packed into Preisser's suitcases for his eventual release.

Upon his release in June 1940, rather than freedom, Preisser was taken into "Schutzhaft" (protective custody), a measure by which the Nazi regime arbitrarily detained people they perceived as dangerous. He was first taken to the Wuhlheide labour camp, followed by concentration camps at Sachsenhausen, Groß-Rosen, Auschwitz, Buna-Monowitz, Gleiwitz, Dora-Mittelbau in Nordhausen, and Turmalin in Blankenburg.

Sachsenhausen: The Penal Division

At Sachsenhausen, Preisser was assigned to the notorious penal division, reserved for those the Nazis considered particularly dangerous criminals. Life there was brutal. Prisoners were forced to crawl across parade grounds while being kicked, work in backbreaking conditions, and endure punishments such as hanging on poles with dislocated shoulders. The thin prison garb offered little protection against freezing temperatures, and food rations were frequently stopped for trivial reasons.

Preisser's survival at Sachsenhausen began with an unlikely commission. A blond dormitory Elder asked him to tattoo a woman on his chest. Though Preisser had no experience with tattooing, he agreed and created the design using improvised tools. News of his artistic abilities spread quickly, and the Block Elder (Blockältester) commissioned further work. This brought Preisser a crucial advantage: the Block Elder arranged his transfer to the sick bay when his leg became severely infected, something normally impossible for penal division prisoners.

When Preisser was accused of attempting to steal socks, his punishment was relatively light by concentration camp standards: half an hour hanging on a pole and two weeks standing at the gate entrance. The Block Elder, still grateful for Preisser's artwork, kept him supplied with food and occasionally substituted another prisoner so Preisser could eat meals, making the punishment survivable.

Groß-Rosen: Court Painter

Preisser's transfer to Groß-Rosen in September 1942 initially seemed a chance for improvement, but the camp proved to be one of the cruellest. His first assignment was quarry work, where prisoners were forced to walk barefoot over granite splinters. Within days, Preisser was at the end of his endurance. His left leg deteriorated, and heavy granite slabs were heaved onto his shoulders, causing deep gashes.

A turning point came when an SS Block Leader named Barth discovered Preisser was an artist. The word "painter" had a miraculous effect, and Barth personally conducted Preisser to the sick bay. The sick bay Kapo initially refused admission and ordered Preisser to hide in the barracks, but Barth returned and ensured proper treatment.

The Rapportführer heard of Preisser's abilities and commissioned a watercolour depicting a roll call scene as a birthday present for Camp Leader Anton Thumann. Despite Preisser's poor physical condition, he completed the painting with materials from the architect's office. The work was such a success that the Rapportführer ordered a copy as a gift for the camp Commander, Roedl.

Preisser's status changed dramatically. He was retained in the sick bay with full facilities at his disposal. Various SS members brought photographs of wives, fathers, mothers, and sweethearts for him to paint. He earned special respect when he successfully painted the Rapportführer's father from a tiny photograph where the eyes appeared as white blotches due to light reflections on spectacles. Preisser had to guess both the shape and colour, and his success impressed the SS officer greatly.

Camp Commander Roedl appointed Preisser as his personal artist, giving him a room in the Führerheim as a studio and allowing him to move freely within the camp and even around the quarry. Roedl was an easy boss, often telling Preisser to take it easy if he didn't feel like working. Roedl frequently arrived at the studio with hotel guest books, asking Preisser to add illustrations and even sign them in Roedl's name.

When Roedl was relieved of his command and transferred to the battlefield, Preisser worried about his fate. However, the new commander, Hauptsturmführer Lucius, reassured him that things would continue as before. This arrangement did not last long. Orders came from Gestapo headquarters in Berlin to organize a mass exodus of all Jews and those who were not pure Aryans. Lucius regretfully informed Preisser that he could make no exceptions and personally came to collect all of Preisser's work.

Auschwitz and Buna-Monowitz: Privileged Prisoner

In September 1942, Preisser arrived at Auschwitz, where he received his tattooed prisoner number: 68246. After a short stay, he was transferred to Buna-Monowitz, a new camp created for I.G. Farben to build a vast industrial complex using slave labour.

At Buna, Preisser's artistic abilities again proved his salvation. He met the Camp Elder, who wanted an armband made with his official title. This led to more work creating signs for the Labour Corps leaders and SS administrative offices. An empty barracks was found where Preisser established himself as foreman of a paint shop with assistants, making him a legal camp painter.

Preisser's role expanded when he became part-time clerk in the orderly room and then draftsman for the Political Department. His task was to create detailed sketches of alleged escape attempts, showing the layout of work areas, positions of guards, and escape routes. All information had to be recorded: prisoner number and name, SS guard name and rank, date of birth, and number of shots fired. These sketches were part of the Nazi concept of "law and order" even in the midst of lawlessness.

The new chief of the Political Department, Josef Hofer, was interested in Preisser as an artist since Hofer was a painter himself. Hofer had Preisser's office equipped as a studio, and despite the heavy workload of documenting shootings and investigating incidents, Preisser continued to paint portraits for SS officers.

Preisser used his position to help fellow prisoners. He worked with allies to eliminate the most brutal criminal elements from positions of power and replace them with more humane prisoners, both political prisoners and Jews. When new transports arrived, Preisser escorted prisoners to the sick bay and warned them to discard hidden valuables along the way rather than have them confiscated by the SS. He retained fountain pens, watches, and other items that could be used to bribe guards and suppress reports that would send prisoners to their deaths.

During this period, Preisser took a sixteen-year-old boy from Berlin, Joseph Spring, as his "camp son." He arranged for Joseph to be trained as a welder by Norbert Wollheim, ensuring the boy had a skilled trade that would protect him. Preisser had developed a strong dislike for old-time prisoners who refused to help ordinary prisoners, feeling that while political prisoners were imprisoned for a reason, most others were there solely because they were Jews.

Preisser's office became a multipurpose space. Hofer used it as a romantic refuge, and Preisser and his colleague Stein set up mattresses behind a wall shelf for Hofer's liaisons. The same office served as a listening post for BBC German broadcasts that Preisser translated for Hofer, and later as a distillery for Hofer's liqueur experiments. One night the still's lid blew off, creating such a mess that the camp painter had to repaint the walls and ceiling.

Final Months: Death Marches and Liberation

As the Russian front drew closer in January 1945, the camp was evacuated. Preisser left behind about nine hundred sick people in the bay with three volunteer doctors. The march to Gleiwitz was an endurance test lasting from 3:30 PM on 18 January until 7:00 AM the following day. Many prisoners too exhausted to continue were shot by the roadside. Some SS guards, hearing Russian guns drawing closer, became demoralized, wept, threw away their weapons, and one committed suicide.

From Gleiwitz, prisoners were loaded onto goods trains for a thirteen-day journey with open carriages in temperatures fifteen to twenty degrees below zero. Preisser organized lard and supplies, and his group took mattresses and blankets to create makeshift protection. Czech civilians showed extraordinary courage, waving flags and throwing food from bridges despite SS gunfire.

After reaching Dora concentration camp, Preisser was briefly assigned to work in the Political Department but chose instead to transfer to Turmalin, a small camp in the Harz mountains where prisoners were building underground tunnels. Initially working as a Kapo supervising tunnel construction, Preisser soon transferred to an office where a German contractor provided him an electric heater.

The contractor mentioned Preisser's name to the factory director, a bibliophile who owned books Preisser had illustrated with woodcuts for the Maximilian Society. The director commissioned Preisser to paint a large mural in the employees' dining room. Preisser found himself working under comfortable conditions, receiving meals from the German employees' kitchen.

This comfort was short-lived. As Americans drew nearer, another forced march began. Joseph Spring, Preisser's camp son, could not join due to an infected foot and swollen lymph glands. The separation proved fortunate: Joseph was liberated at Turmalin and reached home in Belgium while Preisser was still a prisoner.

The final march south to the Elbe River claimed more victims. SS guards shot prisoners who fell behind or failed to stand in proper formation. After traveling by barge to Schwartau near Lübeck, the group marched north to Neustadt on Lübeck Bay. On the morning of 3 May 1945, prisoners boarded tugboats to meet ocean liners and freighters anchored in the bay.

Preisser chose the smallest ship, the freighter Athen, believing it had a better chance of survival. Between noon and one o'clock, British planes attacked, not knowing the ships carried concentration camp prisoners. The Cap Arcona and Deutschland were hit and sank. The Tilbeck vanished. The Athen, through skilful manoeuvring by its captain, zigzagged back to the submarine base unscathed.

Once anchored, Preisser immediately left the ship on a rope hanging down its side. The guards had vanished. For the first time in six and a half years, he was free. British armoured cars rolled through the gate shortly after. The official death toll from the bombing was eight thousand, though Preisser believed the actual number was much higher.

Postwar Life and Artistic Legacy

Following the war, Preisser settled in Neustadt, converting a roof space into a studio and resuming his work as a portrait painter. He taught art classes for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), working mainly with Estonian students. He then became a commercial art teacher at the ORT vocational school in Neustadt, which opened in December 1947.  By the end of 1948, he had moved to Hamburg to teach at the newly established ORT school there.