Rochelle Saidel

Saidel is the author of numerous books, with a focus on the Holocaust. Her first book, published in 1985, was The Outraged Conscience: Seekers for Justice of Nazi War Criminals in America. She has since authored or edited seven other books about the Holocaust, mainly discussing the often untold stories of women.[2] She authored Never Too Late To Remember: The Politics Behind New York City's Holocaust Museum, Mielec: The Shtetl that Became a Nazi Concentration Camp, and The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. The Ravensbrück book was named a National Jewish Book Awards finalist and was published in English, Hebrew, and Portuguese.[3] Saidel is also the editor of several books, including an expanded version of the memoir of Gemma La Guardia Gluck, the sister of New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, entitled Fiorello's Sister. [4] In addition, Saidel co-edited with Sonja Hedgepeth the anthology Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust. [5] [6] She co-edited four editions of Women, Theater, and the Holocaust Resource Handbook with Karen Shulman; [7] VIOLATED! Women in Holocaust and Genocide with Batya Brutin; and Teaching and Education with Gender Equality in Childhood and Adolescence: A Practical Guide for Teachers (in Portuguese). Saidel has also been a correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. She has written numerous articles for the Jerusalem Post, the Times of Israel, Hadassah Magazine, Lilith Magazine, and other periodicals. [8][9] Saidel's works mostly focus on the Holocaust, specifically on the experiences of Jewish women.

Saidel has been the curator or coordinator for several important art and history exhibitions. She coordinated Bitter Hope: From Holocaust to Haven, a permanent exhibition about the Oswego, New York refugee camp for the New York State Museum in Albany. In 2001, she was guest curator for the Florida Holocaust Museum's Women of Ravensbrück: portraits of courage, art by Julia Terwilliger exhibition, which later travelled extensively.[10] She also curated an exhibition about Gemma La Guardia Gluck for Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at their New York campus. She coordinated the 2018 exhibition: VIOLATED! Women in Holocaust and Genocide, Remember the Women Institute's international group exhibition at the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York City. [11]

Saidel has worked on numerous films and television programs, mainly related to the Holocaust. She was a consultant for Rosemarie Reed's Where Birds Never Sing: The Ravensbrück and Sachsenhauser Concentration Camps, in which she had a cameo appearance. She was a consultant for Ronnie Sarnat's Screaming Silence, a documentary about children who were sexually abused during the Holocaust, and for Return to a Burning House, a film about Holocaust heroine Haviva Reick. Saidel also appeared in Triangles: Witnesses of the Holocaust and Living With Shadows.[12] She produced and hosted a three-part television program called From Hitler to Uncle Sam: How American Intelligence Used Nazi War Criminals. She also created, produced, and hosted a program on subjects including the Holocaust: Heritage and Destiny on the Albany ABC Affiliate, on behalf of the Greater Albany Jewish Federation and Anti-Defamation League.[4] [13]

In 1997, Saidel founded the Remember the Women Institute based in New York City. Under Saidel's leadership, the institute has organized and participated in numerous conferences related to women in the Holocaust. Her focus on sexual violence during the Holocaust has evolved to include domestic, or intimate partner, violence. Saidel, along with Sonja Hedgepeth, has worked with Gloria Steinem and other feminist activists on issues relating to sexual assault against women in genocides. She and Hedgepeth participated in a panel led by Steinem in 2011 centered around their book, Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust.[14] The Women Under Siege Project, an initiative of the Women's Media Center founded by Steinem and others, was inspired by Hedgepeth and Saidel's book.[15] In the 1980s, Saidel was the Special Assistant to New York State Senate Minority Leader Manfred Ohrenstein. She advised him on issues relating to Holocaust remembrance and the creation of the New York City Holocaust Museum.[16] [17] Beginning in 1977, she was at the forefront of early efforts to deport Nazi war criminals from the United States. She co-authored with Charles R. Allen, Jr. an informational booklet entitled Nazi War Criminals in America: Facts...Action.

• The Outraged Conscience: Seekers of Justice for Nazi War Criminals in America: (1985)
• Never Too Late To Remember: The Politics Behind New York City's Holocaust Museum (1996)
• The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp (2004)
• Mielec, Poland: The Shtetl That Became a Nazi Concentration Camp (2012)

• Teaching and Education with Gender Equality in Childhood and Adolescence: A Practical Guide for Teachers (Portuguese) (1996)
• Fiorello's Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck's Story (2007)
• Sexual Violence Against Jewish Women during the Holocaust (2010)
• Women, Theater, and the Holocaust Resource Handbook (2015)
• VIOLATED! Women in Holocaust and Genocide (2018)