Holocaust Memorial Museum Highlights Women’s Roles During WWII

By Tywanna Webb

 

Thursday afternoon the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum presented a program honoring the contributions of women during World War II.

“We are here to tell the stories of women whose contributions impacted our nation’s history,” said moderator Lori Ann Terjesen. Terjesen is the Director of Education for the National Women’s History Museum.

The program is titled: “How Did American Women Act? Heroism on the Home Front.” It included speakers Denise Kiernan and Gretchen Skidmore.  Kiernan is a New York Times best-selling author, known for her books The Girls of Atomic City and The Last Castle. Skidmore is the Director of Education Initiatives for the Unites States Holocaust Museum.

The panelists shared stories of women who stepped into heroic, historic roles during the war. They also presented photos and video to further illustrate the contributions of women during WWII. This included the story of Florence Mendheim, who served as an undercover spy for the U.S. government while working as a librarian by day. Menheim took the risk of providing surveillance of American Nazi groups during the 1930s.

Speaker Kiernan said that many people are unaware of the great contributions of thousands of women during the war.

“You would think that the entire Manhattan Project was like 10 guys,” said Keirnan. “But the fact of the matter was that it was tens of thousands of people, many of them women and people of color. When you’re talking about something as significant as this project, don’t we owe it to ourselves to view this from as many perspectives as possible?”

Speaker Gretchen Skidmore said that many women felt obliged to lend their efforts to the war. “They were asked to go and help with something they already cared about,” she said.

Other women honored during the presentation were Katie Strickland, an African-American woman who worked at the K-25 plant to enrich uranium for the atomic bombs; Celia Klemski, who also worked on the Manhattan project; and Lois Gunden, who saved several Jewish children and refugees from arrest.

The program was co-presented with the National Women’s History Museum and the Park Avenue Synagogue Women’s Network. It was held at the United Jewish Appeal Federation in Manhattan.

“So much of this isn’t just women’s history, it’s just history,” said Kiernan.

The timely program came a day ahead of International Women’s Day.