Former resident1938 to the early 1940sFort George
Henry Kissinger
Kissinger's family reached New York in September 1938, and he spent his high-school years in Washington Heights' German-Jewish community, attending George Washington High School.
George Washington High School, Audubon Ave and W 192nd–193rd Sts
Henry Kissinger was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1938 as a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi persecution. According to Wikipedia, his family arrived in New York City on September 5, 1938, when he was 15, and he spent his high-school years in the German-Jewish community in Washington Heights.
Wikipedia says he attended George Washington High School for a year before finishing school at night while working in a shaving brush factory during the day. He then studied accounting at the City College of New York until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in early 1943. Wikipedia’s Washington Heights article lists him among the alumni of George Washington High School, which stands at the northern edge of the neighborhood.
His connection is a youth spent in the refugee community the neighborhood became known for in the 1930s and 1940s, which the historian Steven Lowenstein called Frankfurt on the Hudson. Kissinger later served under Presidents Nixon and Ford and remains a deeply debated figure; this entry covers only his time in Washington Heights.