David Schwager points to a photo of himself in a picture with Henry Kissinger, his mother’s cousin.
Courtesy WBRE/WYOU Eyewitness News
Kingston attorney talks about family ties to former secretary of state
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Kingston attorney David Schwager, center right, is seen in this autographed photo of himself with Henry Kissinger, left, his mother’s cousin.
Submitted photo
In this photograph from a family event in Germany in the 1920s, Margot Schwager, third from the left in front, is seen posing to the right of Henry Kissinger’s grandfather, David Kissinger.
Submitted photo
KINGSTON — The news of former secretary of state Henry Kissinger’s passing made waves throughout the world, but for one Kingston family, his death hit especially close to home.
The statesman was a distant cousin to Kingston attorney David Schwager.
Schwager, who also is a board member and past president of both the Jewish Community Center of Wyoming Valley and Temple Israel, recalled a few of his family’s fondest memories of their Kissinger kin — some of which date all the way back to Nazi Germany.
According to Schwager, Kissinger was a cousin of his mother, Margot Schwager, and the pair first connected in the early 1930s. Originally born as Heinz Alfred Kissinger, he changed his name to Henry after his family fled Nazi Germany when he was just a teen.
Schwager’s mother was living in a small town in Bavaria, Germany when the Nazis came to power. Following their seizure of power, they drove Jewish students out of the public schools, forcing Margot and her siblings to stop attending school.
Kissinger was experiencing the same thing during this time, also in Bavaria. Even Kissinger’s father, Louis Kissinger, a teacher for an all-girls private school, was also removed from his position.
It was then that Louis decided to teach in Fuerth, where his family lived, and Margot and her siblings were sent there to be taught by him.
Shortly after in, 1938, both Margot and her siblings and the Kissinger family fled Germany for Washington Heights, an area of Manhattan, New York that was full of German-Jewish immigrants at the time.
Just a few months later, Kristallnacht — also referred to as The Night of the Broken Glass — occurred, in which synagogues, Jewish business and homes were destroyed during a wave of antisemitic violence.
“They were very fortunate to have gotten out before that because after that point it was much harder to escape,” Schwager said.
Growing up, Schwager heard plenty of family stories about Kissinger, which he joyously recalled during a phone interview on Thursday.
“One of the stories I always heard growing up was how Henry Kissinger was on the same ship as my uncle when they escaped Germany and Henry was quite seasick and my uncle actually helped sort of comfort him and calm him a little as he was feeling quite ill on the Atlantic crossing,” Schwager said.
And some of Schwager’s memories of Kissinger were even firsthand.
“I can remember being at family gatherings with Henry’s parents, who I always referred to as Uncle Louie and Aunt Paula — and I even invited them to my bat mitzvah in 1976,” Schwager said, noting that although they were unable to attend, they sent a signed picture of Kissinger inside the Oval Office with President Richard Nixon.
Despite forming relationships with the Kissinger family, Schwager did not meet him until the late 1970s during a dinner in Pittsburgh.
“Because of his hectic life and schedule, Henry was not particularly present in a lot of things, but I did get the chance to meet him,” Schwager said.
“He was a featured speaker at the event and I was leading the pledge of allegiance on the program, and I introduced myself to him and essentially told him who I was and who I belonged to and he was so happy to meet me,” he added.
Although he wasn’t a member of Schwager’s immediate family, his legacy still makes them proud.
“He wasn’t a close relative, but the connection was certainly there and we would always refer to him as cousin Henry. Plus, there’s not many people in your family that you can say won a Nobel Peace Prize” Schwager said.
“It’s a loss for our country, a loss for our world, and certainly a loss for our family,” he added.