Known by reputation, he was first given a desk in the offices of Harcourt Brace, from which he could coordinate his overseas business. In 1942, however, he combined forces with Fritz Landshoff, who had also arrived in New York after his Dutch exile press ceased operations under Nazi pressure. Together the two formed L.B. Fischer Publishing Corp., where they could publish exile authors living in the U.S. The seven German-language texts that appeared, by Richard Beer-Hofmann, Thomas Mann, and Franz Werfel, were only a small part of their operation, the rest of which consisted of American books. In addition, L.B. Fischer printed world classics in Germany - many of them originally German books - for the over 400,000 German prisoners of war held in the U.S. The Bücherreihe 'Neue Welt' was produced in cooperation with the U.S. State department as part of the coordinated reeducation effort.

As the war ended in 1945, a period of plans and renewed difficulties began. In 1946, L.B. Fischer's list was sold and the company dissolved. The Vienna firm was soon reopened, but negotiations with Peter Suhrkamp over the return of the Fischer holdings became strained, and the once solid house was ultimately split in two. In 1950 Gottfried Bermann Fischer re-established S. Fischer Verlag in Berlin and Frankfurt.