He collaborated with popular Polish actresses Ida Kamińska and Lola Folman,[7] hypnotist and illusionist Wolf Messing, and performed at the famous orphan school Janusz Korczak, where he worked as an educator in the summer months.

Fleeing from Nazi persecution, on October 21, 1939, he swam and crossed the Western Bug with his nephew Pawel Gruenspan (1920–2000, a Polish pianist, composer, and leader of the Jazz Orchestra)[8][9][10] and ended up in territory occupied by the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

He was arrested by the NKVD, where, instead of the surname Mieczysław (Mietek), they wrote the name Max Fishman and put him in a camp.

In September 1944, after a concert, where, under the leadership of Max Fishman, a group of Poles from the Labor Army performed Polish folk and patriotic songs to improve the image of the USSR in the eyes of the Polish army on the territory of the USSR, he, with frostbite on his hands and poor health, was released and sent to study at the Saratov Conservatory.

More than a hundred students from various departments, including strings, wind and folk instruments, vocals, and acting, studied piano under Max Fishman at the Chisinau Conservatory and later became leading masters of musical and theatrical art in Moldova.

[17] From an interview with Moldovan violinist and composer, Honored Art Worker of the Moldavian SSR, professor Boris Dubosarschi [ru] to music critic, journalist Serghei Pojar (2010):[18][19][20] "…In the early 60s, the organizing committee interzonal violin competition in the USSR in Moldova invited composers from all the republics to write a virtuoso work for violin, which was to be performed by all participants in the competition.

There were a lot of works for the competition, but there was little controversy, when the envelope with the number of the winning composer was publicly opened, it turned out to be Max Fishman.

The responsible persons of the competition were shocked, but it was too late to change the situation, but it was necessary, due to the tension between Israel and the surrounding Arab world.

The laureates of the competition with great pleasure performed this piece for violin by Max Benovich… and one of these winners was my classmate, the magnificent violinist Boris Goldenblank,[21] later the first violin of the outstanding orchestras of Jurij Silantiev [ru] and Andre Rieu"Max Fishman died on September 24, 1985, in Chișinău.

Pavel Borisovich Rivilis, a senior consultant at the Union of Composers of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, considers it one of the finest examples of a post-World War II piano concerto.

[41] Irina Pleşcan, Associate Professor of the Pridnestrovian State Institute of Arts in Tiraspol, in an article titled The piano trio by M. Fishman as a sound document of its era describes Max Fishman's Trio as a musical work that encapsulates the spirit of its time, blending various musical ideas and traditions.

Despite the composer's traumatic experiences during the 20th century, including the loss of family members in the Holocaust and his own hardships, Fishman maintained an optimistic outlook that is evident in his music.

Fishman's work is characterized by its ability to assimilate diverse compositional techniques while preserving and expressing the composer's ethnic and cultural identity.

Analysis of the score reveals that the work is characterized by its bright and theatrical qualities, rich contrasts, and accessibility to a broad audience.