Henri Landwirth Papers

Henri Landwirth was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1927. At the age of 13 he was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and in the course of the war, he was transferred to several other concentration camps, Mauthausen included. While he and his twin sister, Margot Landwirth Glazer, from whom he was separated during the deportation, were liberated at the end of the war, their parents did not survive the Holocaust. Landwirth immigrated to the US. He served in the Korean War and thanks to the G. I. Bill, and having learnt English, he could take a course in hotel management. During the nights, he worked in a hotel in Manhattan. He moved to Florida in 1954 to manage the Starlight Hotel in Cocoa Beach, which accommodated the needs of the growing space program in Florida. In 1969, he opened his first Holiday Inn franchise, which catered to the audiences at the developing entertainment park business around Orlando.

An equally engaged philanthropist, Henri Landwirth often said that his experience of surviving the Holocaust urged him to help those in need and to live a life of giving. “You have to give of yourself – not money, but the essence of yourself. That is what makes life meaningful!” he used to argue. Beginning in the 1980s, he offered free rooms for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 1985 he established his first foundation named after his late mother, The Fanny Landwirth Foundation, which offers financial support to ensure shelter, clothing, education, and more for struggling communities and families. Four years later, in 1989, Landwirth opened the Give Kids the World Village in Orlando. This holiday resort hosts children suffering from life-threatening illnesses together with their families. In 2000, after a visit to a homeless shelter, Landwirth established Dignity U Wear, which, until its merger with the charity organization Soles 4 Souls in 2017, had been providing clothing for families in need. Landwirth’s charity work touched the lives of the 160,000 children and families who vacationed at Give Kids the World and many more who were afforded new clothing and other services through his charities. His lasting friendships with former astronaut and Senator John Glenn and with other US astronauts, particularly those of Mercury 7, led him to help establish the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which promises scholarships to promising young science students.

For his excellence in the hotel business, for his philanthropy, and for his work as an activist for the continuing memorialization of the Holocaust and its victims – among them his parents, Henri Landwirth was awarded many honors and awards. Mother Theresa and John Paul II sent him their blessings; he was named one of the twelve Most Caring Individuals in America by the Caring Institute, and he was invited twice to carry the Olympic Torch.

Henri Landwirth’s life was the subject of a biography by W. Halamandaris, Love & Hate: The Story of Henri Landwirth (2007), and his life experiences were featured in the documentary films, Borrowing Time (2006) and Loving Henri (2016) directed by Robert Allen Black.