Hermann Kaiser was 9 years old when his parents, his younger brother, and he left Nazi Germany. They were taken by rail in a sealed carriage, traveling only by night, from Berlin to a Spanish town at the border with France. There they were freed—no longer under Nazi control. In Spain, which had just ended its civil war, young Hermann sold the bread the Berlin Jewish community had provided for the journey. With the proceeds, the family purchased oranges and a pair of shoes. Then they continued to Lisbon, Portugal, where, after Shavuot, they boarded the N/S Nyassa destined for the United States.
The family arrived in Brooklyn on June 14, 1941, and settled in Utica, New York, where Hermann earned his B.A. in accounting (he would later earn an M.A. from Wharton as well). After a two-year army stint, he married Hannah Meyer, z”l, and moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey. Hermann worked as an accountant in New Jersey and New York, and applied his financial acumen to his investments, donating a great deal of the profits to numerous Jewish charities in the United States and Israel, including AMIT.
“My connection to AMIT must be subconsciously that my wife was in the teaching profession,” Hermann said. “She was the secretary to the principal at Manhattan Day School for 10 years, and in the course of that time, since she had a teacher’s license, she would take over the class on occasion.”
Israel, children, and education were always important to the Kaisers. Hannah, z”l, participated in the Havtacha chapter of AMIT, in Elizabeth, supporting the annual Misholach Manot campaign. The Kaisers first visited Israel together in 1969 with Hapoel HaMizrachi (the World Mizrachi movement). They returned once more, with their two children, Herbert and Hinda, in 1972, and the kids stayed for 10 days at AMIT’s Kfar Batya, which ran a summer camp for Israeli and American children.
When the Kaisers decided to support AMIT, in addition to annual gifts, they chose to create a charitable gift annuity. Click here to learn more about charitable gift annuities.
“The return that was being offered at the time was a very good one—5.7%,” Hermann explained. “You never know how long you’re going to live, and that’s the whole idea of buying an annuity—partially to give money to the charity you’re buying it from and partially because you get a nice tax deduction for part of the money you gave right off the bat. Plus, the payments are partially tax-free for your actuarial lifetime based on your age when you receive the first payment.”
Because of the stability of this type of investment, Hermann also recently decided to establish a deferred charitable gift annuity with AMIT for his son, who is now 55 years old. That way, Hermann gets a tax deduction now and ensures that his son, who will begin collecting a fixed income at age 65, is cared for in his retirement years—all while supporting AMIT’s mission of building Israel through education.
Photograph courtesy Hermann Kaiser
For more information about planned giving opportunities, please contact Genene Kaye, national director of planned giving, at GeneneK@amitchildren.org or 212.477.5465.
