SPEAKER_02: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Melte Mburak. I'm the host and producer of the podcast
SPEAKER_00: SESTA. We aim to harness the power of arts and culture to foster conversation and build peace in Cyprus. I'll be your guest host for this month of Womanica. This month, we're highlighting peace builders. In times of conflict, these women have stepped in, bringing their creativity and insight to help facilitate peace across the globe. Today, we're talking about a woman who used her second chance at life to speak up against the injustices she saw in the world. Unable to idly stand by, she threw her support behind communities resisting persecution. She was an inspiration to generations of peacemakers, underscoring that change can only happen when we put our words into action. Let's talk about Hedi Epsy. Hedwig Wachenheimer was born on August 15, 1924 in Freiburg, Germany to a Jewish family. Her parents, Elo and Hugo, raised her in Kepenheim, Germany alongside many family members. When Hedi was eight years old, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. Although she was young, Hedi knew his rise to power had changed her life forever. Anti-Semitism run rampant in schools, synagogues were burned, and Jewish-owned businesses like the one Hedi's father owned were boycotted. The Wachenheimers faced worsening threats every day, but strict immigration policies made it impossible to leave the country. Germany, Hedi's home, had turned hostile. In the days after Kristallnacht, an anti-Semitic principal expelled her from her class. She returned home to find her house ransacked. The police had sent her father to a forced labor camp. Hugo returned after four weeks. He and Elo knew there was no future for their only child in Germany. They took the only precaution left to them. They put Hedi on a Kindertransport, a refugee initiative that brought approximately 10,000 children from across central Europe to safety in Britain. Hedi was just 14 and heartbroken. She accused her parents of trying to get rid of her. Decades later, she softened her stance and remembered her parents' choice as a sacrifice. They hadn't left her. They had given her life. And she was right. While Hedi got a chance at life, her parents were moved from concentration camp to concentration camp. They died in Auschwitz. On September 4, 1942, Hedi received a final letter from her parents. The postcard read, Traveling to the East, Sending you a final goodbye. She never saw them again. Hedi lived in London with a foster family until the war ended. In 1945, she returned to Germany as a translator and researcher for the Allied forces. Even in the earliest days of her adult life, Hedi was seeking justice for the atrocities folks like her had suffered during the war. Her work brought her to the front lines of the Nuremberg Medical Trial, which tried German physicians who had used concentration camp inmates as subjects for medical experiments. In May 1948, Hedi immigrated to the United States. She got a job at the New York Association for New Americans, which helped bring Holocaust survivors to the US. There, she had a pivotal experience. On her first day, Hedi asked her African American colleague to get lunch with her. When she said no, Hedi chalked it up to being at too short notice. But when the woman continued to reject Hedi's invitations, Hedi confronted her and asked her why she wouldn't eat with her. When the woman explained that she and Hedi couldn't eat at the same restaurant because of racism and segregation, Hedi was incredulous. I said, but, you know, they couldn't breed the slaves. And this is
SPEAKER_01: 1948 and you can't go to eat where I can go. There's something wrong with it. Isn't somebody
SPEAKER_02: doing something about this? After this moment, Hedi committed her life to fighting for civil
SPEAKER_00: rights and social justice in her new home. Her parents and her own life experiences inspired her guiding principle. One does not persecute other people. Most of her activism and advocacy took place in St. Louis, Missouri, where she'd moved with her husband, Arnold Epstein. She got involved in the Freedom of Residence organization, which worked to end housing discrimination in the city. She started as a volunteer and worked her way up to the executive director. Hedi was also vocal about her anti-war stance. She protested the Vietnam war and spoke out against the US bombing of Cambodia. And she was not shy about criticizing the US for its stringent immigration policies. Hedi's work for a more peaceful world turned global after the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon. She condemned Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and founded multiple local St. Louis chapters of groups advocating freedom for Palestinians. Hedi believed in nonviolent demonstrations, but she never stood on the sidelines. She traveled to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on several occasions, even arriving via Freedom Flotilla, which sent several boats from all over the world to the Gaza Strip in an attempt to break Israel's naval blockade. Hedi had a voice that she wasn't afraid to use. As a member of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center Speakers Bureau, Hedi traveled all over the world, sharing her Holocaust experience and speaking on the Israel-Palestine conflict. She educated generations of listeners on how to work against hatred and bias. Each talk ended with three requests. Remember the past. Don't hate. Don't be a bystander. Her whole life, Hedi was determined to never let the past repeat itself. When Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer in 2014, Hedi was an early participant in the Black Lives Matter movement. She knew the injustices she'd seen leveled up communities in her lifetime was alive and well not only in Ferguson but across the United States. In one last act of resistance, Hedi participated in the peaceful protests following Michael Brown's death. When the police demanded the protesters leave, Hedi was one of nine who refused. Three days after her 19th birthday, Hedi was arrested for failure to disperse. After decades of fighting injustice, Hedi Epstein died on May 26, 2016. Her 2014 remarks on the Democracy Now! radio show remind us that we all have to do our part. She said, I can't solve every problem. I probably can't solve any problem, but I have to do whatever it is possible for me to do. I just cannot stand idly by because if I did, anyone that stands idly by becomes complicit in what is going on. All month we're talking about peace builders. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Womanika Podcast. Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan for having me as a guest host. Talk to you tomorrow.
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SPEAKER_01: Do you hear it? The clock is ticking. It's time for the new season of 60 Minutes. The CBS News Sunday Night Tradition is back for its 56th season with all new big name interviews, hard-hitting investigations and epic adventures. No place, no one, no story is off limits. And you'll always learn something new. It's time for 60 Minutes. New episode airs Sunday, September 24th on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus.
