Gerhard Fischer (diplomat)

Fischer died in Copenhagen on 3 July 2006, aged 84 years. On 8 July 2006, a silent procession was organised at Ayikudi as a mark of respect. N.S. Rao, a former colleague of Fischer at the German consulate in Madras, said that Fischer "applied a missionary zeal to anything he put his mind to. He and his wife were a perfect two-people team and worked all over the country with tremendous energy and indefatigable enthusiasm. After his wife's death, he had been carrying on his social work relentlessly." Rao added that Fischer's daughter, Karen Fischer Koch, carried on her father's work after his death.

Fischer's leprosy treatment, rehabilitation and vocational training centres also cared for polio victims. By 2005, new polio cases had been greatly reduced, thanks to vaccination and joint efforts between the Indian government and NGOs. As a result, Fischer's centres were able to take on additional responsibilities in other areas. But Fischer stressed the need for medical practitioners in the primary health centres to maintain a watch over polio and leprosy, and to be trained in recognising the symptoms.

Fischer received the Indian government's Gandhi Peace Prize for 1997 in New Delhi on 5 January 1998 from the President of India, K. R. Narayanan. The selection committee was unanimous in its decision to award the prize to Fischer. The prize carried an award of 10 million rupees, which Fischer used to set up a foundation for his humanitarian work. In his acceptance speech at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India, Fischer said, "It is not enough to have compassion, daya, karuṇā, and pity for the leprosy patients. We lepers, we don't care about compassion. We want action." Referring to the government slogan of "eradicating leprosy by 2000", he said that his speech made people such as Sonia Gandhi, who were sitting in the front of the audience, very uncomfortable.

Until 1991 he worked with Elizabeth Vomstein at her station in Chettipatty. He found her "very, very difficult", but said, "If she wasn't that type, she wouldn't have lasted 38 years." By 1991, he had had enough, and started out on his own. He had already built his own leprosy station in the foothills of the Himalayas, and in the following years he established health centres, workshops and schools throughout India, building wells and latrines, and obtaining Jeeps, minibuses and other supplies. He was also involved with projects in Nepal and Vietnam.

After resigning from the diplomatic service in 1985, Fischer regularly spent six months each year in India, and six months in the summer with his wife at their small farm near Chiemsee, a lake in Bavaria. His wife, Ann, ran the administration, fund-raising and publicity for Fischer's work. They had decided not to have "an administration", so Fischer and his wife did everything on their own. Fischer said that his wife "deserves half this prize" (the Gandhi Peace Prize).

His first appointment as Ambassador came in 1970, when he represented West Germany in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In March 1974 he was promoted to lead a large department in the Foreign Office dealing with Asia and Latin America. His second ambassadorial appointment came in July 1977, when he was sent to Dublin, followed by further appointments to The Hague, Netherlands (early 1980) and Bern, Switzerland (mid-1983). In December 1985, only six months before reaching his normal retirement age, he resigned from the diplomatic service in order to devote more time to leprosy patients in India.

Fischer's work with leprosy patients in India began in 1960, when he was German Consul-General in Madras (now Chennai), in Tamil Nadu. A German doctor, Elizabeth Vomstein, had asked for his help in obtaining a work permit so that she could work with a French nun she had heard of who was helping leprosy patients in Chettipatty, near Salem. Fischer successfully helped her get the work permit, then drove with her to Chettipatty. Fischer remained in post in Tamil Nadu for four years, during which time he regularly visited Vomstein's station in Chettipatty, which she slowly built up to what he regarded as a "model station".

With a law degree in hand, he decided to join the German foreign service, as that would take him overseas. In 1952–1953 he completed his training for the higher diplomatic and consular service in Speyer, Rhineland-Palatinate, passing the final exam in 1953. He began his career at the German legation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, followed by a posting to the consulate in Hong Kong from 1957 to 1960, when he took over the consulate in Madras. In 1963 he was promoted to Consul, and in 1964 returned to the Bonn headquarters of the Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt). He was appointed to the rank of Councillor (Vortragender Legationsrat) in 1966 and from 1968 headed a political department there, becoming a First Councillor (Vortragender Legationsrat Erster Klasse) shortly afterwards.

Gerhard Fischer (20 September 1921 – 3 July 2006) was a German diplomat, ambassador and humanitarian who received the 1997 Gandhi Peace Prize in recognition of his work for leprosy and polio-afflicted patients in India.