Hedy Epstein (née Wachenheimer; August 15, 1924 – May 26, 2016) was a German-born Jewish-American

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

and Holocaust survivor known for her support of the

Palestinian cause Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people that espouses self-determination and sovereignty over the region of Palestine.de Waart, 1994p. 223 Referencing Article 9 of ''The Palestinian National Charter of 1968' ...

through the

International Solidarity Movement The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization ...

. Born in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

to a Jewish family, she was rescued from Nazi Germany by the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

in 1939. She immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1948, married Arnold Epstein (?-1977), and lived in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, for many years.

Biography

Hedy Wachenheimer was born to a Jewish family in Freiburg, and in 1939 fled Nazi persecution via the

to England. All but two of her family were killed at Auschwitz concentration camp during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

she worked in munitions factories and joined a group of left-wing German Jewish refugees who hoped to re-introduce democracy in their homeland – "the foundation of my political education which still stands me in good stead today," she said. Some 60 years later, she was interviewed about this experience for the film '' Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport''.Hedy Epstein (personal website)
accessed May 27, 2016. After the war, Epstein worked with the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

occupying forces in Germany, including working on the

Doctors' trial The Doctors' Trial (officially ''United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al.'') was the first of 12 trials for war crimes of high-ranking German officials and industrialists that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone ...

at Nuremberg. In 1948 she immigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, then moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, and then to St. Louis, Missouri. There, she took up activism for

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

, the pro-choice movement, and the

antiwar movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pea ...

.Volland, Victor
For Holocaust Survivors, the Pain Remains
''St. Louis Post Dispatch'', December 30, 1997.McDonnell Twair, Pat
Against all odds
''The Middle East'', April 2007. In 1982, in response to news reports of massacres committed by a Lebanese Phalangist militia during the 1982 Lebanon War, Epstein developed a different perspective on the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is an ongoing intercommunal phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century, but had mostly faded out by the ...

; she began to express opposition to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's military policies. In 2001, she founded a St. Louis chapter of the

Women in Black Women in Black ( he, נשים בשחור, ''Nashim BeShahor'') is a women's anti-war movement with an estimated 10,000 activists around the world. The first group was formed by Israeli women in Jerusalem in 1988, following the outbreak of the Fi ...

, an anti-war group that originally focused on Israel's occupation. In 2003 she traveled to the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

to work with the

. She returned once a year, saying that she had been strip searched and

cavity search A body cavity search, also known simply as a cavity search, is either a visual search or a manual internal inspection of body cavities for prohibited materials (contraband), such as illegal drugs, money, jewelry, or weapons. Body cavities frequen ...

ed in 2004 by guards at

Ben Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport, ; ar, مطار بن غوريون الدولي , commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Lod, it is th ...

2004 speaking tour and controversy

Epstein spoke about the situation in the

occupied territories Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

, and about her own life and experiences, for audiences in the United States. Prior to a talk at Stanford University on October 20, 2004, fliers promoting her presentation "juxtaposed an image of Jews in Nazi Germany with an image of Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints", according to a news article in ''

The Stanford Daily ''The Stanford Daily'' is the student-run, independent daily newspaper serving Stanford University. ''The Daily'' is distributed throughout campus and the surrounding community of Palo Alto, California, United States. It has published since the ...

''. After an "appalled" reaction from members of Stanford's Jewish community, event organizers stated that no "direct comparison" was intended by the posters, or would be heard in Epstein's remarks. Epstein echoed these sentiments, avoided comparisons between Nazis and Israelis, and spent little time discussing her background in Nazi Germany, wrote ''The Daily''. However, throughout the speech, audience members, many associated with off-campus Jewish organizations, interrupted her talk with shouts of outrage, and extra campus security quietly moved in.Burmon, Andrew
Tensions Boil as Holocaust Survivor Decries Treatment of Palestinians
, ''The Stanford Daily'', October 21, 2004. Reactions to the talk were sharply divided. Adina Danzig, president of Stanford's Hillel organization called the lecture "an abuse of history" and hoped that "this event and the isolated interruptions by a few individuals were an aberration". While acknowledging Epstein's general statement about avoiding comparison, Danzig stated that the "disclaimer did not undo the damage" and that " psteinmade several remarks drawing the sraeli–Naziparallel".Danzig, Adina
Epstein lecture: an abuse of history
, ''The Stanford Daily'', October 22, 2004. Nathan Mintz, vice-president of the Stanford Israel Alliance, condemned "Epstein's rhetoric of drawing comparisons of the initial stages of the Holocaust to the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank" as "outright demonization of Jews" representing "only one piece of what is a much larger trend of anti-Semitism on college campuses today." He added that Epstein's ISM colleagues have "direct ties to terrorist organizations" and that the "atmosphere currently on campuses is not one in which a constructive dialogue about the conflict can legitimately take place."Mintz, Nathan
Holocaust event representative of rising tide of anti-Semitic rhetoric
''The Stanford Daily'', October 21, 2004. In contrast, a supporter of Epstein condemned these as "misrepresentations and false charges", citing off-campus activists who, "with the intention of disrupting the event", handed out fliers "demonizing" Epstein and "frequently yelled at and interrupted" her. "At one point, he wrote a man suddenly jumped up while Epstein was talking and recited what appeared to be a prepared statement informing her of pending legal actions against her." He asked why Mintz "failed to mention any of the egregious events" of this sort and "submitted his op-ed before actually seeing the event."Amen, Segun
Epstein victimized by a harsh audience
, ''The Stanford Daily'', October 21, 2004. In response to controversy over the paper's initial coverage of the story,Various authors
Epstein Lecture a Vision for Peace
, ''The Stanford Daily'', October 22, 2004. reader editor Jennifer Graham of the ''Stanford Daily'' acknowledged that "plenty – if not unfairly too much" coverage was given to the claims of Epstein's critics. She also apologized for the "wrong" and "misleading" decision to run Mintz's op-ed criticizing Epstein's speech before it had happened. "There are claims, that I can neither confirm nor deny, that Mintz's column factually misrepresents the substance of Epstein's speech", she wrote.Graham, Jennifer
Handling the Middle East conflict
''The Stanford Daily'', November 1, 2004. As a "constructive response" to Epstein's presentation, members of several campus Jewish organizations invited Harvard professor

Ruth Wisse Ruth Wisse (surname pronounced ) (Yiddish: רות װײַס; Roskies; born May 13, 1936) is a Canadian academic and is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University ''emerita''. ...

to speak at Stanford. "While her audience ate Challah bread and drank champagne for the Kiddush", wrote ''The Stanford Daily'', Wisse placed sole blame for Palestinian suffering on the Arab world and on Palestinian politics, and argued that since opposition to the Jews was the only thing that the Arab world had in common, the center of Arab politics became anti-Semitism.Burmon, Andrew and Victoria Degtyareva
Wisse: Palestine not Israel's fault
, stanforddaily.com, November 1, 2004. Stanford student Ahmed Ashraf responded with an op-ed contrasting the "pro-Israelis (sic) outraged by Epstein's support for the Palestinians" to the "perfectly respectful" behavior of Arab and Muslim attendees to Wisse's talk, "even as the acidic torrent of hate rained down on them."Ashraf, Ahmed
Talk about Middle East with care
stanforddaily.com, November 1, 2004. An Anti-Defamation League report from the next year characterized Epstein's talk as an "example of anti-Israel campus activism" which "would meet both the United States government's and sraeli cabinetMinister Nathan Sharansky's definitions of anti-Semitism," for "comparing Nazi treatment of Jews to Israeli treatment of Palestinians."ADL Statement to US Commission on Civil Rights: Anti-Semitic Incidents on College Campuses
, adl.org, May 27, 2016. An online publication of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs cited Epstein's talk on the same subject at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

among "activities that spill over into various forms of hate-speech demonizing both Israelis and Jews"

hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

"compared Israel to a Nazi state and Israeli soldiers to Nazis."Beckwith, Leila, and Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Ilam Benjamin
Faculty Efforts to Combat Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israeli Bias at the University of California, Santa Cruz
jcpa.org, September 1, 2005. In 2008, the Missouri regional director for the Anti-Defamation League noted, "For someone like Hedy, who came out of the Jewish community at a very difficult time, to criticize Israel ... well, it's difficult. Some people perceive it as disloyal."Brown, Sylvester Jr
'Traitor' or peacemaker, activist won't do nothing
stltoday.com, June 29, 2008.

Activism

In August 2008, Epstein planned to be on board the

Free Gaza Movement The Free Gaza Movement (FGM) is a coalition of human rights activists and pro-Palestinian groups formed to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and publicise the situation of the Palestinians there. FGM has challenged the Israeli–Egyptian ...

's ship attempting to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza, but had to cancel due to poor health.

Agence France Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D. ...

"Activists sail from Cyprus determined to break Gaza blockade"
, google.com, August 22, 2008. In 2010, she embarked on one of the ships that intended to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, but decided in Cyprus not to take part in the trip. She reportedly had also planned to take part in the 2011 flotilla but did not. She was on board "The Audacity of Hope" ready to join the

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same clas ...

. However, they were intercepted by the Greek Coast Guard and turned back. Epstein was supportive of the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

movement, and was arrested for failure to disperse on August 18, 2014, during a St. Louis protest against the

killing of Michael Brown On August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Brown was accompanied by his 22-year-old male friend Dorian Johnson, who later stated that Brow ...

and subsequent police actions.

Death

Epstein died at her home in St. Louis on May 26, 2016, aged 91, of cancer. Hedy was survived by son Howard Epstein, and granddaughters Courtney and Kelly.

References

External links