The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide Jerusalem regrets deeply to announce the death of pioneering veteran genocide scholar, Dr. Helen Fein, and salutes her memory as a great leader of genocide scholarship.
Helen was actively in contact with us beginning with her participation in the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide which was organized and led by Israel Charny in 1982 — Israel recalls how he and Helen together were lost happily in the Old City of Jerusalem searching for the Armenian Patriarch’s residence to join in a celebratory reception following the conclusion of the historic conference. A decade leader the two were joined by Drs. Roger Smith and Robert Melson for the four of them to become the founders of the International Association of Gen0cide Scholars (IAGS),
The following is a reprinting of the obituary written by Helen’s close friend and colleague, Dr. Joyce Apsel, that was published on the Listserv of the IAGS of which Helen was the first president as well as a co-founder.
A Tribute to Helen Fein, by Joyce Apsel, President, Institute for the Study of Genocide, and New York University
Helen Fein (PhD Columbia University, Sociology) passed away on May 14, 2022, surrounded by her husband Richard Fein, daughters and extended family.
Helen was a pioneer in genocide studies as a scholar and one of the founders and first president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Her landmark work Accounting for Genocide (University of Chicago, 1979) received the American Sociological Association Sorokin Award cited as “a brilliantly original interpretation of a complex and singular process, that has until now defied comprehensive social analysis.” Her rigorous application of historical sociology on issues related to collective violence, genocide and other atrocities continued over the decades. Her books and numerous articles were cited for their originality and “incisive analysis” such as: “Denying Genocide: From Armenia to Bosnia” to “Discriminating Genocide from War Crimes: Vietnam and Afghanistan” to her 2007 volume Human Rights & Wrongs: Slavery, Terror & Genocide. Helen Fein coined such terms as “outside the sanctified universe of obligation” to “calculus of genocide” and “genocide by attrition”, a concept that appeared in the Journal Health & Human Rights, “Genocide by Attrition, 1939-1993: The Warsaw Ghetto, Cambodia & Sudan: links between Human Rights, Health and Mass Death.” Her groundbreaking work continues to influence scholarship in genocide studies and prevention as well as a series of related fields of study.
As Executive Director of the not-for-profit Institute for Study of Genocide for over thirty years, she organized a series of cutting-edge conferences (see for example, the edited volumes, Genocide Watch, and The Prevention of Genocide: Rwanda and Yugoslavia Reconsidered)), advocated and lobbied on behalf of human rights and humanitarianism, and established the biennial ISG Lemkin Award for the outstanding volume on genocide or other severe human rights violations. She was a recipient of a series of grants and awards from the American Sociological Association, the Dutch PIOOM Award for Genocide: A Sociological Perspective, to the Social Science-MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in International Peace and Security Studies at Harvard University. She was a research associate at the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, at the Kennedy School of Government Harvard University for almost two secades. From her work as Director of Indochinese Refugee Settlement in Dutchess County to serving as an advisory board member for a range of NGOs, her life and legacy are that of a committed scholar and activist. Helen Fein donated her personal library on the Holocaust and Genocide to the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College.
In addition to her husband of over fifty years, poet and Yiddishist Richard Fein, Helen is survived by her daughters Marsi Fein Miller and Miriam Fein-Cole, sons in law and grandchildren Aryeh, Eli, Maya and Joshua. Helen Fein’s commitment to her family and friends, research and advocacy epitomizes the life of a scholar activist — deep integrity and concern for human dignity and social justice. Contributions in her honor may be made to: International Rescue Committee: https://help.rescue.org/