Artur Fischer

Fischer was born in Tumlingen on 31 December 1919, the son of the village tailor Georg Fischer. His mother Pauline, who ironed collars to supplement the family's income, recognised his mechanical aptitude, helped him establish a workbench at home and bought him a construction set. He left school at the age of 13 to train as a locksmith and later joined the Hitler Youth.

During World War II, Fischer served as an aircraft mechanic in the Luftwaffe, the air force of Nazi Germany. He was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 52 and survived the Battle of Stalingrad, leaving the encirclement aboard one of the last aircraft. Later in the war, he was captured in Italy and transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in England. He returned to Tumlingen in 1946 and found employment as an assistant at an engineering company. He subsequently began producing lighters and loom switches from military scrap, and in 1948 founded his own company, the Fischer Group.