Peter Flinsch (April 22, 1920 – March 30, 2010) was a

German Canadian German Canadians ( or , ) are Canadian citizens of German ancestry or Germans who emigrated to and reside in Canada. According to the 2016 census, there are 3,322,405 Canadians with full or partial German ancestry. Some immigrants came from wh ...

artist, who worked as a set designer and art director for television programming produced by

Radio-Canada Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network *Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...

the French language service of the

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. He was born in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany, the grandson of German art historian

Ulrich Thieme Ulrich Thieme (31 January 1865 in Leipzig – 25 March 1922 in Leipzig) was a German art historian. He was the son of the industrialist and art collector Alfred Thieme (1830–1906), brother of the publisher Georg Thieme (1830–1906) and gr ...

.Peter Flinsch
at ArtsQuebec. Flinsch, like many young Germans during the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

era, was obliged to join the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...

. At the onset of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he decided to fulfill his military obligation and joined the anti-aircraft artillery of the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

. In 1942, after a Christmas party, he was spotted kissing another man

Richard Burnett Richard Burnett, also known as Bugs Burnett, is a Canadian writer, editor, journalist, and columnist. He is known as an often controversial fixture of the Montreal media, with his writing sometimes attracting attention internationally. His colu ...

"Another Country"
. ''

Hour An hour (symbol: h; also abbreviated hr) is a unit of time historically reckoned as of a day and defined contemporarily as exactly 3,600 seconds ( SI). There are 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day. The hour was initially establis ...

'', September 11, 2008. and was charged under section 175-1 of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

's criminal code. He was sentenced to a disciplinary minesweeping unit where being overworked, underfed, and mistreated by fellow convicts he developed

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. At the end of the war in 1945, Flinsch began working as a theatre designer in Leipzig and Berlin and later as a publicity designer for

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

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. He subsequently moved to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in 1953, reuniting with his friend and lover Heino Heiden who was then the artistic director and choreographer for the Vancouver Ballet Company. He finally settled in Montreal to work for Radio-Canada, where he worked for over 30 years and won an Anik Award for Best Television Design in 1981 for his work on ''L'Espion aux yeux verts''. Following his retirement from Radio-Canada in 1985, he began to exhibit his own artwork in drawing, painting, and sculpture. In 1992 during the rebranding of CBC, he appeared in the Day After Day/Jour Apres Jour video for sign on & sign offs for CBC affiliates which appeared on screens as early as 1996. In 1998, one of his friends suggested that he display his art on the

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. Initially he resisted the idea. With much persuasion, his web presence was born. Eventually he enjoyed being contacted from complete strangers who were interested in his work, or the story of his life. His web site also brought him into contact with an old lover from Paris in the 1940s, and a distant relative (see: Flinsch Peak). ''The Body in Question'', a biography by Ross Higgins which includes 110 pages of Flinsch's artwork, was published in 2008 by

Arsenal Pulp Press Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as und ...

."Book: Peter Flinsch: The Body in Question"
. ''

Xtra! West ''Xtra Vancouver'' (), formerly ''Xtra! West'', was a gay bi-weekly newspaper, published by Pink Triangle Press in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Printed on newsprint in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format from its establishment in ...

'', September 11, 2008. He died in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

on March 30, 2010."Artist Peter Flinsch dies: 1920-2010"
. ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former p ...

'', March 31, 2010.

References

External links

The Art of Peter Flinsch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flinsch, Peter 1920 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 21st-century Canadian painters Canadian gay artists German gay artists Gay painters Gay sculptors Artists from Leipzig German emigrants to Canada Canadian scenic designers Canadian LGBTQ painters German LGBTQ painters 20th-century Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors Canadian LGBTQ sculptors German LGBTQ sculptors 20th-century Canadian male artists Hitler Youth members Luftwaffe personnel of World War II People convicted under Germany's Paragraph 175 21st-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people