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 19 ...

through the International Solidarity Movement. Born in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

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 from Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...

in 1939. She immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, for many years.

Biography

Hedy Wachenheimer was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

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 Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 occupying forces in Germany, including working on the Doctors' trial at Nuremberg. In 1948 she immigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, then moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, 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 ...

, the pro-choice movement, and the

antiwar movement An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...

.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 The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

, Epstein developed a different perspective on the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...

; she began to express opposition to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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

Women in Black Women in Black () 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 First Intifada. History Responding to what ...

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

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

to work with the International Solidarity Movement. She returned once a year, saying that she had been

strip searched A strip search is a practice of searching a person for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, and not found by performing a frisk search, but by requiring the person to remove some or al ...

and

cavity search Cavity Search may refer to: * Body cavity search, a visual search or a manual internal inspection of body cavities for prohibited material (contraband), such as illegal drugs, money, or weapons * Cavity Search Records, an independent record label ...

ed in 2004 by guards at

Ben Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on outskirts north of the city of Lod and directly south of the city of Or Yehuda, it is the busies ...

2004 speaking tour and controversy

Epstein spoke about the situation in the

occupied territories Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is temporary hostile control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling powe ...

, and about her own life and experiences, for audiences in the United States. Prior to a talk at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

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 (; Yiddish: רות װײַס; Roskies; born May 13, 1936) is a Canadian academic and political activist. She is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University ''emerit ...

to speak at Stanford. "While her audience ate Challah bread and drank champagne for the

Kiddush Kiddush (; ), , is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Additionally, the word refers to a small repast held on Shabbat or festival mornings after the prayer services and before the meal. S ...

", 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 Natan Sharansky (; born 20 January 1948) is an Israeli politician, human rights activist, and author. He served as Chairman of the Executive for the Jewish Agency from June 2009 to August 2018, and currently serves as Chairman for the Institute ...

'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 The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), formerly the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), is an Israeli think tank specializing in public diplomacy and foreign policy founded in 1976. JCPA publishes the biennial jo ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

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

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

"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 Egypt and Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and publicise the situation of the Palestinians there. FGM has challenged the Blockad ...

'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. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

"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 cla ...

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

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

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. Wilson, a white male Fergu ...

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