Theodor Nischwitz was born on April 27, 1913, in Berlin. Influenced by his father, director and actor Heinrich Lisson, he entered the film world early, appearing in the film "Glaubensketten" at age three.

After completing his secondary education, he began an apprenticeship at Berlin's Afifa copying plant in 1930 and joined the special effects department at Universum Film AG (Ufa) in Babelsberg in 1931.

Specializing as a cameraman for special effects, Nischwitz contributed to notable films like "Bomben auf Monte Carlo" ("Bombs on Monte Carlo", 1931), "Der Kongress tanzt" ("Congress Dances", 1931), and "F.P.1 antwortet nicht" ("F.P. 1 Doesn't Asnwer", 1932). He perfected various technical tricks and invented optical-technical effects, working on films such as "Ekstase" ("Ectasy", 1933), "Gold" (1934), "Maskerade" ("Masquerade in Vienna", 1934), and "Amphitryon" (1935).

During World War II, he served as a war correspondent and worked on propaganda films like "Stukas" (1941) and "Besatzung Dora" ("The Crew of the Dora", 1943). He was also part of the team for Ufa's "Münchhausen" ("The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen", 1942). Post-war, Nischwitz joined Bavaria Film in Munich in 1948, heading the special effects department from 1949. He worked on diverse films, including "Der Apfel ist ab" ("The Original Sin", 1948) and "Das doppelte Lottchen" (1950). Notable are his ship model shots for Frank Wisbar’s "Nacht fiel über Gotenhafen" ("Darkness Fell on Gotenhafen", 1960) and the ghost effects for Kurt Hoffmann’s "Das Spukschloß im Spessart" ("The Haunted Castle", 1960), where he cleverly used double exposures.

From 1963 to 1972, he mainly focused on television, creating outstanding innovative effects for the series "Raumpatrouille" (1966) alongside collaborators Rolf Zehetbauer and Götz Weidner. In the 1970s, he returned to cinema with three works by director Hans Jürgen Syberberg: "Ludwig – Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König" ("Ludwig – Requiem for a Virgin King", 1972), "Karl May" (1974), and the epic four-part "Hitler – ein Film aus Deutschland" ("Hitler: A Film from Germany", 1977). During this period, he also worked on several international co-productions: Wim Wenders’ "Der amerikanische Freund" ("The American Friend", DE/FR 1977), Billy Wilder’s "Fedora" (DE/FR 1978), and the American spy thriller "Avalanche Express" (1979). Rainer Werner Fassbinder worked with him on his TV miniseries "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (1980).

A career highlight was his work on Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot" (1981), where he created numerous submarine special effects. He continued working on varied projects, including "Otto – Der Film" (1985) and "Das schreckliche Mädchen" ("The Nasty Girl", 1990), receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Deutscher Filmpreis in 1984.

Theo Nischwitz's final works included Roland Emmerich’s science fiction film "Moon 44" (1990), Franz Seitz’s historical TV three-parter "Erfolg" (1991), and Edgar Reitz’s thirteen-part epic "Die zweite Heimat" ("Heimat 2: Chronicle of a Generation", 1988-1992).

Theodor Nischwitz died on July 14, 1994, in Grünwald near Munich. His daughters, Babette and Susanne, also pursued careers in film and television as editor respectively script supervisor.