Herbert Fischer : An Entangled German Indian Biography

This is a translated version of the 2019 MIDA Archival Reflexicon entry “Herbert Fischer – Eine deutsch-indische Verflechtungsbiografie”. The text was translated by Rekha Rajan.

Herbert Fischer began as an employee of the Trade Representation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in New Delhi, later serving as its director and consul-general. After the official recognition of the country in October 1972, he was the first ambassador of the GDR in India.

Herbert Fischer’s life is closely interwoven with the emergence of independent India as well as with the development of the GDR. Fischer had already spent a decade in India before the Second World War, had lived with Gandhi and as a German, he had been interned during the war by the British colonial rulers in India. After the war ended, he returned to his home in Saxony in Germany, which was now part of the Soviet-occupied zone and was soon to become a part of the GDR. Via circuitous routes, he arrived at and became part of the Ministry for External Affairs and soon advanced to become the India-expert of the early GDR.