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The Institute

The Remember the Women Institute is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation founded in 1997 and based in New York City that conducts and encourages research and cultural activities that contribute to including women in history. Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel is the founder and executive director of the Institute, which maintains this website.

Special emphasis is on women in the context of the Holocaust and its aftermath, including post-World War II immigration. Other topics include women marginalized within Jewish religion and inter-religious dialogue, as well as the accomplishments and exclusion of women in Jewish and general history, the effects of genocide on women, exploitation of women, and the effects of culture on memorialization.

Through research and related activities, the stories of women--from the point of view of women--are made available to 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. Such academic fields as History, Holocaust Studies, Political Science, Sociology, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, and Cultural Studies can benefit from the Institute's contributions. The Institute's work can also enrich films, theater, museum exhibits, and other cultural products. 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.

One research project is the identification of Holocaust survivors and witnesses of sexual violence who are willing to bear witness. To this day, sexual violence during the Holocaust is a secret cloaked in shame. The recent publication of Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust (Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute's Series on Jewish Women), edited by Sonja M. Hedgepeth and Rochelle G. Saidel, has broken the silence after sixty-five years. This unprecedented anthology, with contributions from historians, social scientists, literary and film critics, and psychologists, opens a window into a world that has been virtually unknown. Some victims' experiences are referenced in the book, but most survivors have neither spoken out nor come together to share their experiences. While many of the victims were murdered by the Nazis to ensure their silence, some are still living and able to testify. Remember the Women Institute believes it is not too late for the world to hear firsthand what happened to them, but time is running out. Rape and sexual violence in connection with other genocides have been well documented, including those in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan. In these cases women have come forward and found solidarity in each other and those who support them. The sexual enslavement during World War II of "comfort women" by the Japanese military was exposed only fifty years after the war, and the testimony of Kim Hak Soon, then age 67, inspired more than 200 other Korean women to speak out. The project is being coordinated by Jessica Neuwirth, an attorney who founded the international women's rights organization Equality Now and is a UN expert on sexual violence in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is being assisted by Karen Shulman, an education consultant with experience working on the Holocaust and in Rwanda, with a Master's degree focusing on the Holocaust and genocide, working with Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel.

Books that have been published in cooperation with Remember the Women Institute include: Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust (eds. Hedgepeth and Saidel, Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, 2010); The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp (Saidel, University of Wisconsin Press, 2004, paperback 2006, Hebrew 2007, and Portuguese 2009); Mielec, Poland: The Shtetl That Became a Nazi Concentration Camp (Saidel, Gefen Publishers, 2012); and Fiorello's Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck's Story (Gluck, ed. Saidel, Syracuse University Press, 2007). Exhibits include Women of Ravensbrück, Portraits of Courage: Art by Julia Terwilliger for the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, and an exhibit about Gemma La Guardia Gluck for Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York.

Remember the Women Institute has organized panels on women and the Holocaust that include: the groundbreaking workshop, “Beyond Anne Frank: Teaching about Women and the Holocaust,” at a Conference on Teaching the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem (2006); various panels at the Scholars' Conference on the Holocaust; the first session dealing with women and the Holocaust (2005) and with sexual violence during the Holocaust (2009) at the World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem; the first session dealing with sexual violence during the Holocaust, the Association for Jewish Studies (2010); and a special panel at a Women and the Holocaust conference in Warsaw, Poland (2011).

Board of Directors

Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel, President
Dr. Guilherme A. Plonski, Treasurer
Dr. Sonja Hedgepeth

Advisory Board 

Dr. Elizabeth Baer
Dr. Judy Baumel-Schwartz
Barbara Becker
Dr. Susan Benedict
Dr. Ellen Ben-Sefer
Dr. Eva Alterman Blay
Noreen Brand
Dr. Joyce Brenner
Dr. Batya Brutin
Aviva Cantor
Judy Cohen
Rabbi Tami Crystal
Dr. Barbara Distel
Dr. Karin Doerr
Dr. Insa Eschebach
Dr. Eva Fogelman
Dr. Myrna Goldenberg
Dr. Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska
Bonnie Gurewitsch
Dr. Esther Hertzog
Dr. Sara Horowitz
Elizabeth Howitt
Dr. Mary Johnson
Dr. S. Lillian Kremer
Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell
Dr. Cheyenne Martin
Dr. Dalia Ofer
Dr. Nancy Ordway
Dr. Susan Pentlin
Dr. Diane Plotkin
Dr. Zuzana Polackova 
Rosemarie Reed
Lilly Rivlin
Jean Bloch Rosensaft
Anna Rosmus
Dr. Rosa Ester Rossini
Joan Roth
Dr. Nancy Rupprecht
Dr. Marilyn Safir
Suzanna Sassoun
Rachel Lulov Segall
Nava Semel
Dr. Alice Shalvi
Dr. Miryam Sivan
Dr. Nechama Tec

Funding

Projects currently under the auspices of the Institute have received support from: The American Jewish Committee Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, CNPq - Brazilian National Science and Technology Council, The Five Millers Family Foundation, The Goethe Institute, The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights, the Gertrude and Philip Hoffman Philanthropic Fund of the Pittsburgh United Jewish Federation Foundation, the Ruth Turner Fund,.the S. H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation, and other generous individuals and foundations. The Institute, a 501(c)(3) organization registered as a not-for-profit corporation in the State of New York, is seeking financial support from private foundations and individuals interested in supporting research and related academic and cultural activities that address women’s issues, Holocaust-related issues, and Jewish women's issues.

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