Amazon.com: Never Too Late to Remember: The Politics Behind New York City's Holocaust Museum (New Perspectives : Jewish Life and Thought) (9780841913677): Rochelle G. Saidel: Books

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This astute, engrossing and comprehensive analysis by Saidel (Outraged Conscience: Seekers of Justice for Nazi War Criminals in America) details the difficult struggle begun in 1947 to build a memorial in New York City to commemorate the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. Although the city has the largest population of Jewish residents and Holocaust survivors in the U.S., internal conflicts within the Jewish community, as well as the anti-Semitism spurred by red-baiting during the 1950s, defeated early efforts to build a memorial. During the 1970s, a new initiative was launched that had the support of President Carter, Governor Cuomo and N.Y.C. Mayor Koch, all of whom, according to Saidel, politicized the memorial either to gain favor with Jewish voters (Carter and Koch) or to forge advantageous real estate deals (Cuomo), which delayed construction. The memorial is now being built in Battery Park City and is scheduled to open in 1997. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Saidel, a political scientist, has studied the Holocaust for over 20 years and is currently interested in the experiences of women during the Holocaust. Her current book paints a detailed picture of the local, state, and national politics that have contributed to, or worked against, the establishment of the New York Holocaust Museum. Saidel argues that another memorial is necessary because Yad Vashem bends the Holocaust to serve Israeli nationalist ideology, the Washington museum "Americanizes" it, and the Los Angeles Museum is divided between "universal tolerance lessons and slick high-tech dramatizations." Saidel believes that New York's museum will give a more balanced, i.e., accurate, history of the destruction of European Jewry. Saidel writes as advocate rather than bystander. Although this does not detract from the scholarly quality of the book, it does raise questions of objectivity. For specialized Judaica collections.?Frederic Krome, Northern Kentucky Univ., Highland Heights
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Rochelle G. Saidel Page

Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel is founder and executive director of Remember the Women Institute, New York City, which carries out and encourages research and cultural projects that integrate women into history. She is co-editor of Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust (Brandeis University/University Press of New England, 2010), as well as author of The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004, also in Hebrew and Portuguese). A forthcoming book about Mielec, Poland, based on research as a Fellow at the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem, will be out in 2011(Gefen Publishers). She is also editor of Fiorello's Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck's Story (Syracuse University Press, 2007), and has produced and curated Holocaust-related museum exhibits. Her earlier books are Never Too Late to Remember: The Politics Behind New York City's Holocaust Museum and The Outraged Conscience: Seekers of Justice for Nazi War Criminals in America. Dr. Saidel is a senior researcher at the Center for the Study of Women and Gender, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Her PhD in Political Science is from The Graduate School and University Center, CUNY, New York City. She worked for nine years in the New York State Senate, with responsibilities including Holocaust education and planning for the Museum of Jewish Heritage. She has been writing and lecturing on the Holocaust for more than thirty years. For more information, see www.rememberwomen.org.