Henry Maringer

Henry was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on April 8, 1931, to Gustave and Fanny Maringer. He lived a remarkable life as a survivor of the Holocaust who went on to become a commodities executive and raise his family in Greenwich, CT.

Following the Nazi invasion of Belgium in May 1940, Henry’s widowed mother fled with Henry, then age nine, and his older sister, Renée, through occupied France to Bordeaux. Speaking impeccable German to Nazi soldiers, Fanny was able to mask their identities while remaining petrified that her children might accidentally reveal themselves. Henry told stories of their escape, including of playing near German soldiers who offered him treats when he was starving and of Fanny’s fear that he may inadvertently expose them. On one occasion, Fanny persuaded a Nazi commander to allow them to travel and, after the commander escorted them to the train, Henry watched out of the window as the other soldiers gave his family a Nazi salute.

After reaching Bordeaux, Henry’s family was granted visas for safe passage through Spain to Portugal by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese diplomat based in Bordeaux who has been recognized for saving thousands of Jewish refugees. De Sousa Mendes issued visas to Jews during a short period in June 1940 – against direct orders and resulting in his being stripped of his position and ultimately rendered destitute - an act described as “perhaps the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust.” The Maringer family sailed on a Greek ship from Lisbon to New York City in October 1940. When they arrived, they were met by Fanny’s brothers, who had previously fled, and Henry told of being handed a container of cold milk at the dock, which he described as the best thing he had ever tasted.

Henry lived with his family on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and later worked in the commodities industry, which led him to live all over the world, from Japan to Brazil to London. He spoke multiple languages, including some that his family learned of more recently, and was truly a global citizen. In 1965, he met Rosalind Feld at a cocktail party in New York, and told his friend the next day that he had met the woman he would marry. True to his word, they were married in 1966 and remained devoted to each other for the next 57 years until her passing in 2024.

Henry is survived by his children, Elizabeth and Stephen, their spouses, Jay and Lindsay, as well as his four grandchildren, Nicholas, Alexander, Harriet, and Albert.

Services will be held on Thursday, January 15, at 10:00 am at Riverside Memorial Chapel at 180 West 76th Street in New York City, followed by a private family graveside service.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Sousa Mendes Foundation in Henry’s memory.

https://sousamendesfoundation.org/

https://sousamendesfoundation.org/family/akselrod-maringer