Dissident Veteran For Peace

The following is an edited version of Michelle J. Kinnucan's nomination of Hedy Epstein as an honorary member of Veterans for Peace.

I met Hedy about two years ago when she came to speak at a local church about Israel-Palestine. Since that time we have become friends and my admiration for Hedy has only grown as I've learned more about her past and her ongoing work for justice and peace.

Hedy Epstein was born in 1924 in Germany and was eight years old when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. Hedy's parents tried to leave Germany as a family, but were unsuccessful, due to emigration restrictions in various countries around the world. Finally, her parents found a way out for her. In May 1939, Hedy went to England on a children's transport. She never saw her parents and other family members again; they died in Nazi concentration camps.

Many other people died or suffered losses such as Hedy's. Her experiences could have changed Hedy into a mean, racist, and vindictive person. As the scholar Norman Finkelstein--himself, the son of Nazi holocaust survivors--wrote in The Holocaust Industry: "The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon. Through its deployment, [Israel] one of the world's most formidable military powers, with a horrendous human rights record, has cast itself as a 'victim' state ..." (p. 3, 2nd ed.).

Not only has Hedy refused to be caught up in the "Holocaust Industry," she has set herself against the crimes committed under its cover and learned a different, better lesson than some. As Hedy wrote to the VFP Board of Directors last year:

I am a Jewish survivor of the Nazi Holocaust. As such I know how it feels to be made a pariah in my own homeland. I know what it is like to have my family and neighbors reduced to second-class citizenship (and as of 9/1935, even deprived of citizenship), because we were not of the right religion or ethnicity. And, sadly, I also know what it is like to have family and friends imprisoned and killed for these reasons, and to have to flee to avoid the same fate myself.

The phrase 'Never Again' - the motto of Holocaust survivors - should be about protecting every person from ethnic cleansing and genocide. Unfortunately, the Arab Palestinians have not been afforded these protections. Today, Israel comprises 78% of historic Palestine, and occupies militarily the other 22%. Millions of Palestinians are refugees who are not permitted to return to their homes.

I have visited Palestine in 2003 and 2004 and saw with my own eyes the impact of the military occupation of Palestine, the cost in human lives and the suffering. Yes, Israeli Jews have suffered, too, but, by far, Palestinians have born the brunt of a worthy dream - a safe place for Jews - which became a catastrophe or al-Naqba, as it is called in Arabic, for Palestinians.

As Hedy says in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, Into the Arms of Strangers: "I certainly do my share of remembering but remembering also has to have a present and future perspective. You can't just stop at remembering. I don't think I ever made a conscious decision to devote myself to human rights and social justice issues. Someone helped me. I can't pay back or thank some of the people who helped me but I can do something for other people."

And so she has, Hedy is on her way to Palestine for the fourth time this Saturday (7/29) with the Presbyterian Congressional Accompaniment Project. Although I know Hedy through her Israel-Palestine work she has worked on many other issues including fair housing, abortion rights, immigration rights, and antiwar activities. As a peace delegate, Hedy journeyed to Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Cambodia in 1989.

Hedy is also an accomplished writer and public speaker. Her autobiography was published in May 1999 by Unrast-Verlag. The book, titled Erinnern ist nicht genug: Autobiographie von Hedy Epstein (Remembering Is Not Enough: The Autobiography of Hedy Epstein), is available in German. She began speaking to audiences in 1970. Her topics include her Nazi Holocaust experiences, her work at the Nuremberg Medical Trial, and related subjects. She has spoken in the US, Germany, and Austria to audiences of schoolchildren, college students, and adults. In addition, she has appeared on several radio and television shows as a guest. She is a member of the Speakers Bureau of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center.

I hope you will agree with me that Veterans for Peace would do well in granting an honorary membership to Hedy Epstein.

See also:

• "Hedy Epstein Awarded Honorary Membership in Veterans for Peace"
• "Hedy Epstein: Holocaust Survivor Works for Palestinian-Israeli Peace" on afsc.org

Labels: Israel Lobby, Palestine, Veterans for Peace