[1] Maeder was born in Hamburg, Germany, on December 29, 1909, the third child in a prosperous family.
Maeder left home at 18, refusing to go into business as his father had wished, and deciding instead to become a teacher.
[2] Maeder, a socialist consistent with the ideas of the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund[3] had to leave the university of Hamburg due to his political attitude.
[3] He had much luck, because the American consul in Nairobi was the father of a school friend of Maeder at his time in Hamburg.
[3] Maeder arrived in Hawaii in 1941,[5] but was interned as an enemy alien[4] on December 8, the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Arriving in New York, Maeder soon obtained a position as the director of the boys' division of a YMCA in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Only a portion of this extensive property became the school campus, with the Maeders retaining title to the remainder.
The school was notable for being completely racially integrated from its inception, and Maeder made successful efforts to recruit an international student body.
Among other notable alumni are Chevy Chase, Benjamin Barber, Dr. Kenneth Edelin and Gunter Nabel.
[1] Gunter Nabel (1986), A Fight for Human Rights: Hans Maeder's Politics of Optimism for World Understanding through Education.