Death camp survivor fulfills kids' last wishes

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MEET THE AUTHOR

NAME — Myra Bledsoe
AGE — 23

DEATH CAMP SURVIVOR FULFILLS KIDS' LAST WISHES

June 2, 2002

When Henri Landwirth was a teen-ager in Belgium, he faced a firing squad. But for some reason, the German soldiers who were supposed to kill him told him to run.

Landwirth fled the concentration camp, and after the war found his twin sister. But his father and mother had been killed. The lesson he learned is that life is important and that while he would never forget, he needed to forgive.

"To go on with my life and to live the life that I'd like to live, I had to get over all the hate and all the terrible feelings that I had toward the Germans. And I managed throughout the years to forgive them for what they have done to me and my family and all the other millions of people," said Landwirth, who lives in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.

Landwirth came to the United States in 1950 and three months later was drafted by the U.S. Army. After his tour of duty, he decided to embark on a career in hotel management in New York City. When he heard that Walt Disney World was going to be built in Orlando, he obtained a Holiday Inn franchise outside the main gate.

Now a successful businessman, Landwirth founded the Fannie Landwirth Foundation, named after his mother. In 1986, he founded Give Kids the World for terminally ill children.

Landwirth came up with the idea of creating a special village for gravely ill children after a little girl died before she got her wish to see Disney World.

For many children, going to Disney World is a dream come true. Landwirth's nonprofit organization fulfills this wish by sending children with life-threatening illnesses and their families to Disney World for free. Families stay at the Give Kids the World Village in Orlando, where there are 96 villas as well as a restaurant, ice cream palace, theater, train station and arcade.

Landwirth says that everyone can benefit from helping others.

"Try to . . . give something of yourself and do everything you can for others. And I can tell you your life is going to be very rich," he said.

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Rachel Green, 16.

REPORTERS: Laura Appelt, 11; Gracie Shockley, 13; Kaitlin Stallings, 12.

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