Frances S. Patai Essay Prize

The Frances S. Patai Program on the Nazi Holocaust seeks to keep alive the historical memory of the Holocaust, especially among those who might not otherwise be familiar with it through familial or cultural ties. Its animating principles are: to counter the fictionalization of the Holocaust, to show how racism, nationalism and other forms of hatred can lead to genocide, to correct the false notion of victims’ passive acceptance of their fate by examining resistance, and finally to explore the contemporary implications of the Holocaust as a way of helping to avoid future genocides._

The Frances S. Patai Essay Prize is for the best student paper addressing the role(s) played by women activists in any area related to the topics of war, genocide, and/or human rights (Essay MUST be uploaded as a pdf or word doc.)*

The Patai Program was made possible by a generous bequest from Frances S. Patai (1930-1998), City College alumna (B.S. 1955 and M.A. 1957), actress, dancer, writer, teacher, ardent feminist and trade unionist. In discussing the creation of the program, she wrote, AI want to be remembered as having fought for justice and dignity for everyone. From a poor Lower East Side family, Ms. Patai attended City College at night after working in factories during the day to support herself. She wanted to help those who, as she, had to, struggle to gain a higher education, and the bequest to the College’s Center for Worker Education was her way to honor this generation of working students. Frances Patai was an educator, writer, historian and feminist activist. Born in New York in 1930, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the City College of New York in the 1950s and taught English and Communication courses throughout the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Patai was deeply concerned with human rights issues, in particular the rights and status of women, and in the last decade of her life she devoted her efforts to researching and writing a book on U.S. women medical personnel who volunteered during the Spanish Civil War.

The fund will also award the best undergraduate research paper on the role of women volunteers in the anti-fascist struggles of the 1930’s. These papers must be written to fulfill a course requirement, at least 2,500 words in length.

The winner is to be chosen by the Advisory committee with the help of two additional historians or political scientists qualified to judge submission in this field._