Family Card - Person Sheet
Family Card - Person Sheet
NameHenry (Heiner) Reinhard CASSIRER 109
Birth1911, Berlin, Germany
Death29 Dec 2004, Saint Jorioz, Annecy, France1076
FatherDr Kurt Hans CASSIRER (1883-)
Spouses
Birth6 Jan 1913, Hungary176
Death20 Jun 2004, Israel176
FatherVilmos REJTO (-~1946)
MotherPaula ROBICSEK (1886-1976)
Marriage13 Mar 1941, New York, NY, USA1078
Divorceabt 19721078
ChildrenViviane (1952-)
Notes for Henry (Heiner) Reinhard CASSIRER
See also New Note - Funeral notice
See also Misc Note 2 - A CITIZEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY - Witness of the age: Synopsis of recently published book “A Century of Struggle for a Humanistic World”763 - see cover attached.1080

1081Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1911, Henry Cassirer attended the Odenwaldschule, an experimental school founded by his grandfather (Max Cassirer) near Frankfurt. The rise of Nazism caused him to abandon Germany for England where he completed his education and worked in radio at the BBC. In 1942, he immigrated to the United States where he began a career with CBS and served as editor in chief for television news. After obtaining his U. S. citizenship he was employed by UNESCO and in 1952 moved to Paris becoming a roving ambassador and consultant for the organization.

His papers from 1936-1996 are held at the University of Texas at Austin. Center for American History. They include: correspondence, printed material, scripts, notes, reports, audio tapes, photographs, speeches, and scrapbooks document the life and career of Henry R. Cassirer, particularly his work as a CBS executive in the 1940s and his long association with UNESCO. (Quantity: 24 ft. Identification: CASSIRER, HENRY R PAPERS)1081

Relevant works include the following books:
Henry R. Cassirer, Und Alles Kam Anders
Henry R. Cassirer, Seeds in the Winds of Change
Henry R. Cassirer, Television Teaching Today
Henry R. Cassirer, Kommunikation und die Zukunft der Bildung
Reinhard Cassirer, B.A., The Irish Influence on the Liberal Movement in England 1798-1832, with Special Reference to the Period 1815-32.
Dr. Andre Berge, Etre Parent Aujourd'hui
Dr. Andre Berge, Aujourd'hui L'enfant
Paul Geheeb Briefe, Paul Geheeb
Roger Brunet, Le Redeploiment Industriel

See also: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00075/cah-00075.html
Misc Note 2 notes for Henry (Heiner) Reinhard CASSIRER
A CITIZEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY1080
Witness of the age.

by Henry Cassirer
Honorary President and founder of the French Group of Disabled People

1080Henry Cassirer is witness to the forces of destruction and hope that have marked the 20th century and which he lives with determined commitment and openness to the world. Born in Berlin in 1911, his earliest memories recall the outbreak of the First World War. Raised in a spirit of democratic humanism in the Odenwaldschule, he faced the rise to power of National Socialism in resolute oppostion, first in Germany and then as a student at the London School of Economics from where he undertook risky, secret missions to the Resistance in Berlin. On September 3d, 1939, his resounding voice announced the British Declaration of war to the German people over the German-language service of the BBC.

In 1941, as assistant director of the CBS Short Wave Listening Station in New York, he collaborates with William L. Shirer to unmask German propaganda against the war and President Roosevelt and its echo in the American press. He was the first to report to the American public the invasion of the Soviet Union by the armed forces of National Socialism, as he recalls in a dramatic account.

Appointed by CBS as its television news editor, he established the first television news service in the United States. The book presents a vivid account of the halting beginnings of the TV medium. Cassirer obtained his US citizenship in long litigation with derogatory efforts by the FBI. Producer/writer of the first TV program on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with Eleanor Roosevelt, he gained the attention of the United Nations.

Recruited in 1952 by UNESCO in Paris as Director of educational Radio and Television, he introduced innovative forms of community communication through Radio and Television in Europe, Asia and Africa. In a world view, he wrote the first assessment of television as tool of formal education.

Struck down by paralysis in 1956, following a mission to India, Cassirer is treated in England's Spinal Injuries Center at Stoke Mandeville where he discovers the world of the disabled and their contribution to society. Inspired by FDR and his recognition that "the only thing to fear is fear itself", he later assumes leadership in France and in the world wide movement for equality and independent living of the disabled.

Returned to Unesco, with 'manageable' disability, he pursues his career as an international civil servant until 'retirement' in 1971 to Annecy, in Haute Savoie at the foot of the French Alps. Here he applies once more his experience to the promotion of grassroots comunication and the rights of the disabled.

Retracing his life experience and continued involvement, the book analyses the functions of democratic communication in our age and the role of a citizen of the world who is committed to meet the challenges of the modern age.
Last Modified 24 Nov 2005Created 21 Mar 2024 by Jim Falk