folder 1
Memoir, photocopy of manuscript, 13 pages, written by Henry"Han" Mayer, of Bridgeport, CT, describing his family's experiences in their native Germany during the 1930s, including antisemitic persecution, their immigration to the United States in 1939, his service in the U.S. Army during World War II, and his post-war life in Bridgeport as the owner of a military supply business.
Henry"Han" Mayer memoir
Copyright Holder: Julia Mayer
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Henry"Han" Mayer (1923-2014) was born on 1 May 1923 as Hans Moritz Mayer in Ingelheim, Germany, the son of Martin and Regina Mayer. He has one sister, Rose (born 1924). In 1934, the family moved to Berlin, to be near other relatives, and Martin worked in a family-run coal business. In 1937, after the family was forced to sell their business, and the children were prohibited from attending school due to further anti-Semitic laws, the family decided to immigrate to the United States. While waiting for their visa, Henry apprenticed as a shoemaker at a Jewish-owned shoe factory, and his sister, when she was 14, was sent on a Kindertransport to England. In October 1939, Henry, his parents, and grandfather left Berlin for Rotterdam, and from there boarded a ship that brought them to the United States, arriving in Hoboken, New Jersey two weeks later. The family settled in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During World War II, Henry was inducted into the U.S. Army, and served at various bases in the U.S. for three years. After discharge, he returned to Bridgeport, and married Julia Schwartz in 1948, and they had two daughters. He opened Liberty Army and Navy Store, a military surplus store in Bridgeport, in 1950, a business that he ran for the next several decades. Henry Mayer died in June 2014.