Jerry Springer - Early Life

Early Life

Springer was born in Highgate tube station in London, England, while the station was in use as a shelter from German bombing during World War II, and grew up on Chandos Road, East Finchley. His parents, Margot (née Kallmann; a bank clerk) and Richard Springer (owner of a shoe shop), were Jewish refugees who escaped from Landsberg an der Warthe, Germany (now Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland). His maternal grandmother Marie Kallmann, who was left behind, died in the gas trucks of Chelmno extermination camp. His paternal grandmother, Selma Springer, died at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. In January 1949, Springer emigrated with his parents to the United States, settling in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York and attended Forest Hills High School. He and his sister Evelyn were raised in a small four-room apartment. One of his earliest memories about current events was when he was 12 and watching the 1956 Democratic convention on television where he saw and was impressed by John F. Kennedy. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University in 1965, majoring in political science. He earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Northwestern University in 1968.

Springer became a political campaign adviser to Robert F. Kennedy. After Kennedy's assassination, he joined the Cincinnati law firm of Frost & Jacobs, now Frost Brown Todd.