- Dec 6, 2009
- 77,717
- 4,169
- 1,815
Epstein had first-hand experience of extreme oppression and discrimination. She was born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1924. She came of age during the rise of Nazism, and only survived thanks to the Kindertransport child rescue program.
In 1939, Epstein managed to flee to England. Her family was not as fortunate. Both of her parents and her extended family members were killed in Nazi concentration camps. She was their only child.
Epstein would later aid Allied forces in the Nuremberg trials, the military tribunals that tried the Nazis for war crimes and crimes against humanity, establishing the international legal framework the world has today. She also later became a member of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum.
At age 90, Hedy Epstein was still getting arrested in activist movements.
In August 2014, the nonagenarian Holocaust survivor was detained by St. Louis police at a civil disobedience action in support of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen who was killed by a white police officer.
Epstein, who died of illness in her home in St. Louis on Thursday, at age 91, was an outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement, which was launched in the wake of Brown’s death.
She was also an economic justice advocate, as well as a longtime anti-war activist who staunchly opposed the U.S. war in Vietnam and the illegal invasion of Iraq.
Epstein, was however, most well-known for her outspoken support for Palestinian rights.
An obituary for Epstein noted that “she ended every talk with three requests: remember the past, don’t hate, and don’t be a bystander.”
She described her philosophy of service as the following: “If we don’t try to make a difference, if we don’t speak up, if we don’t try to right the wrong that we see, we become complicit. I don’t want to be guilty of not trying my best to make a difference.”
Activist Hedy Epstein, Palestinian rights advocate and Holocaust survivor, dies at 91
