Actress, Activist Speaks at
International Symposium Convened by USC Shoah Foundation and Remember the Women
Institute
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A
historic international symposium on sexual violence during the
Holocaust took place on November 7–8, 2012, convened by
USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute
for Visual History and Education and Remember the Women Institute.
The approximately 20 academics and activists who participated have
all worked on this issue, which has been overlooked by most
historians for nearly 70 years. A highlight of the two-day
symposium was a public event with Oscar-winning actress
Jane Fonda on November 8, also co-sponsored by Equality Now.
Ms. Fonda read excerpts from And the Rat Laughed, a novel by
acclaimed Israeli writer Nava Semel,
herself a child of Holocaust survivors. Published in English in
2008, the novel tells the story of a five-year-old Jewish girl who
was sexually abused by the son of Polish farmers who hid her from
the Nazis. Ms. Fonda also introduced a clip reel from a survivor's
testimony about rape; the testimony was provided by the
USC Shoah Foundation, and the clip reel
was produced for the occasion by the Foundation and Remember the
Women Institute. Following Ms. Fonda's remarks, Equality Now
President Jessica Neuwirth moderated
a panel discussion with Remember the Women Institute Executive
Director and Sexual Violence against Jewish Women in the
Holocaust co-editor Rochelle G.
Saidel, and USC Shoah Foundation
Executive Director Stephen D.
Smith.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121113/DC12566LOGO)
The symposium, held at USC Hillel,
was inspired by Sexual Violence against Jewish Women in the
Holocaust, edited by Dr. Sonja M.
Hedgepeth and Dr. Saidel (Brandeis
University Press, 2010), the first scholarly text ever
published on the subject. The symposium focused on collecting new
testimony to make victims' voices heard; discovering existing
documentation; compiling already-published citations of sexual
violence; and ensuring that sexual violence is included in the
Holocaust narrative.
"When thinking about the issue of genocide, sexual abuse is not
a part of our consideration. But it needs to be, because women as a
group are often targeted [because] they are women," Smith said.
"I'd like to thank all the women who have led us so courageously to
raise this issue... But I want to say, as a man, that I accept my
responsibility to raise this [issue] with other men, and to find
other men to speak out on this issue, because this is our
issue."
"It wasn't just in the camps, but also in the ghettos, in
hiding, on death marches, and as private sex slaves of Nazis and
their collaborators in the East," Saidel noted. "There was sexual
abuse by Nazis, Kapos [supervisor-prisoners], and by Jewish and
non-Jewish camp inmates with more privileges. Women sometimes were
forced to accept rape in exchange for food and survival. There were
all kinds of stories and situations. And there were also men who
were sexually violated."
The following statement was issued after the symposium by those
participants listed below:
Symposium on Sexual Violence during the Holocaust: Group
Statement
Evidence, information, and scholarship are emerging that sexual
violence, long largely ignored, was an integral part of the
Holocaust in many forms. Absence of acknowledgment of this reality
has harmed not only survivors but also the understanding of and
efforts to prevent genocide, and efforts to stop sexual violence in
genocide, war, and every day. We hope that increasing awareness of
this subject, obscured by shame and denial, will bring recognition
to the victims—many of whom did not survive—to rectify this
omission from history, and support the work of those who oppose
these atrocities.
Patrice Bensimon, France
Dr. Paula David, Toronto
Dr. Monika Flaschka, USA
Dr. Eva Fogelman, USA
Dr. Myrna Goldenberg, USA
Dr. Sonja Hedgepeth, USA
Karen Jungblut, USA
Dr. Dan Leshem, USA
Dr. Catharine MacKinnon,
USA
Daisy Miller, USA
Jessica Neuwirth, USA
Dr. Amy Parish, USA
Dr. Andrea Peto, Hungary
Dr. John Roth, USA
Dr. Rochelle Saidel, USA and Israel
Karen Shulman, USA
Dr. Stephen Smith, USA
Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, USA
Dr. Zoe Waxman, United Kingdom
About the sponsoring organizations
USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute
for Visual History and Education (sfi.usc.edu) is dedicated to
making audio-visual interviews with survivors and other witnesses
of the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity, a compelling
voice for education and action. The Institute's current collection
of 51,696 eyewitness testimonies contained within its Visual
History Archive preserves history as told by the people who lived
it and lived through it. Housed at the University of Southern California, within the Dana
and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the
Institute works with partners around the world to advance
scholarship and research, to provide resources and online tools for
educators, and to disseminate the testimonies for educational
purposes.
Through research and related activities, Remember the Women
Institute (www.rememberwomen.org) promotes the stories
of women so they might be integrated into history and collective
memory. The work of the Institute is intended to influence academic
research and publications, as well as popular culture, by
encouraging the inclusion of all of humanity in historical and
commemorative representations. The projects of the Institute
include carrying out research on women and the Holocaust,
co-publishing books, creating exhibits, organizing panels at
conferences, and cooperating with other institutes and
organizations for programs, films, and exhibits.
Founded in 1992, Equality Now (www.equalitynow.org) is an
organization that advocates for the human rights of women and girls
around the world by raising international visibility of individual
cases of abuse, mobilizing public support through our global
membership, and wielding strategic political pressure to ensure
that governments enact or enforce laws and policies that uphold the
rights of women and girls.
Contact:
Anne Marie Stein, Director of
Communications
USC Shoah Foundation
amstein@usc.edu
213.740.6723
Remember the Women Institute
info@rememberwomen.org
SOURCE USC Shoah Foundation
Institute