Hedy Epstein

Hedi Epstein (née Wachenheimer, 15 August, 1924—) is an American political activist known for her support of the Palestinian cause through the International Solidarity Movement and for her background as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

Biography

Epstein was born to a Jewish family in Freiburg, Germany, and in 1939 fled Nazi persecution via the Kindertransport to England. All but two of her family were killed at Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust. During World War II 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 says. Some 60 years later, she was interviewed about this experience for the film . [http://www.hedyepstein.com/abouthedy/ Hedy Epstein] (personal website)] Jansen, Michael. " [http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2008/0806/1217923985231.html Holocaust survivor joins peace voyage into troubled waters] . "Irish Times," 6 August 2008.]

After the war, Epstein worked with the Allied occupying forces in Germany, including working on the Doctors' Trial at Nuremberg. In 1948 she immigrated to New York City, then moved to Minneapolis, and then to St. Louis, Missouri. There, she took up activism for affordable housing, the pro-choice movement, and the antiwar movement.Volland, Victor. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB082E7A1EB0956&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM For Holocaust Survivors, the Pain Remains.] "St. Louis Post Dispatch," 30 December 1997.] McDonnell Twair, Pat. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2742/is_377/ai_n25004354 Against all odds.] "The Middle East", April 2007.] In 1982, news reports of the Sabra and Shatila massacres committed during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon "horrified" Epstein; she began to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to express opposition to Israel's actions. In 2001, she founded a St. Louis chapter of the Women in Black, and in 2003 she traveled to the occupied West Bank to work with the International Solidarity Movement. She has returned once a year since, despite being strip searched and cavity searched in 2004 by guards at Ben Gurion International Airport.Cattori, Silvia. " [http://www.counterpunch.org/cattori06132007.html"I Was Not Prepared for the Horrors I Saw:" An Interview with Hedy Epstein.] "CounterPunch", 13 June 2007.]

In August, 2008, Epstein planned to be on board the Free Gaza Movement's ship attempting to break Israel's naval "blockade" of Gaza, but had to cancel due to poor health.Agence France Presse. " [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gyqX5ZWgZPPYVkBMfHhOC-FujZHw Activists sail from Cyprus determined to break Gaza blockade.] " 22 August, 2008.]

2004 speaking tour and controversy

Epstein has spoken about the situation in the occupied territories, and about her own life and experiences, for audiences in the United States. Prior to a talk at Stanford University on 20 October 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. (Anonymous fliers also appeared which accused Epstein's ISM of advocating terrorism.) 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, writes 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. [http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/10/21/tensionsBoilAsHolocaustSurvivorDecriesTreatmentOfPalestinians Tensions Boil as Holocaust Survivor Decries Treatment of Palestinians.] "The Stanford Daily", 21 October 2004.]

Reactions to the talk were sharply divided. Adina Danzig, president of Stanford's Hillel organization called the lecture "an abuse of history," hoped that "this event and the isolated interruptions by a few individuals were an aberration," and, while acknowledging Epstein's general statement about avoiding comparison, said that "that disclaimer did not undo the damage" and that " [Epstein] made several remarks drawing the [Israeli-Nazi] parallel."Danzig, Adina. [http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/10/22/epsteinLectureAnAbuseOfHistory Epstein lecture: an abuse of history] "The Stanford Daily", 22 October 2004.]

Nathan Mintz, vice-president of hasbara for 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 colleages 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. [http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/10/21/holocaustEventRepresentativeOfRisingTideOfAntisemiticRhetoric Holocaust event representative of rising tide of anti-Semitic rhetoric] "The Stanford Daily", 21 October 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. [http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/10/25/epsteinVictimizedByAHarshAudience Epstein victimized by a harsh audience.] "The Stanford Daily", 21 October 2004.]

In response to controversy over the paper's initial coverage of the story,Various authors. [http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/10/22/epsteinLectureAVisionForPeace Epstein Lecture a Vision for Peace.] "The Stanford Daily", 22 October 2004.] "an issue that has come to define more than one volume of the paper," The Stanford Daily's reader editor Jennifer Graham 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. [http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2004/11/1/handlingTheMiddleEastConflict Handling the Middle East conflict] "The Stanford Daily", 1 November 2004.]

As a "constructive response" to Epstein's presentation, members of several campus Jewish organizations invited Harvard professor Ruth Wisse 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. [http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2004/11/1/wissePalestineNotIsraelsFault Wisse: Palestine not Israel’s fault] "The Stanford Daily", 1 November 2004.] Stanford student Ahmed Ashraf responded with an op-ed contrasting the "pro-Israelis 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. [http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2004/11/1/talkAboutMiddleEastWithCare Talk about Middle East with care.] "The Stanford Daily", 1 November 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 [Israeli cabinet] Minister [Nathan] Sharansky] 's definitions of anti-Semitism," for "comparing Nazi treatment of Jews to Israeli treatment of Palestinians." [http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Semitism_Domestic/incidents_on_college_campuses.htm ADL Statement to US Commission on Civil Rights: Anti-Semitic Incidents on College Campuses.] 18 November 2005.] An online publication of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs cited Epstein's talk on the same subject at UCSC among "activities that spill over into various forms of hate-speech demonizing both Israelis and Jews," and which "compared Israel to a Nazi state and Israeli soldiers to Nazis." Beckwith, Leila and Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Ilam Benjamin. [http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-beckwith-05.htm Faculty Efforts to Combat Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israeli Bias at the University of California, Santa Cruz.] 1 September 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. [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/sylvesterbrownjr/story/913ABC93A876533E8625747600179C97?OpenDocument 'Traitor' or peacemaker, activist won't do nothing.] "St Louis Post-Dispatch", 29 June 2008.]

External links

* [http://www.hedyepstein.com/ Hedy Epstein's personal website]
* [http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/10/20/holocaustSurvivorProtestsWall Stanford Daily op-ed by Epstein]
* [http://www.palsolidarity.org/ International Solidarity Movement]
* [http://www.freegaza.org/ Free Gaza Movement]
*FrontPage Magazine: [http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=25218733-C8CE-4021-989C-EF11297ED3E0 ISM Brings Fake “Holocaust Survivor” to UC Irvine]

See also

*Israeli-Palestinian conflict
*New antisemitism
*Norman Finkelstein

References