Lillian Rosengarten is a Jewish American former refugee from Nazi Germany, a clinical social worker, a psychoanalyst, a poet, a writer, and an activist. At age 75, she participated in the Jewish Boat to Gaza voyage in September 2010.

Her book Survival and Conscience from the Shadows of Nazi Germany to the Jewish Boat for Gaza (Just World Books, 2015) was described by filmmaker Alice Rothchild as “A cry from the heart, a call for the centrality of human rights for all… her lifelong search for justice and spiritual peace is both moving and inspiring.” She has written many articles for Mondoweiss, including “The Witch Hunt,” which focuses on claims of anti-Semitism which hide Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinian families. In her article “The dream of a Jewish state, and the nightmare of its reality,” Rosengarten writes: “The hatred of Palestinians has been so manipulated throughout Israel, Europe and the US. I as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany cannot help but see an echo of an early Nazi Jew hatred.”

Learn more about Lillian Rosengarten at the Promised Land Museum.

Excerpted from a 2010 NY Times article Israel Stops Jewish Activists from Entering Gaza:
The one American on board was Lillian Rosengarten, 75, a practicing psychotherapist from Cold Spring, NY, who fled the Nazis as a child in Frankfurt. “I was very reluctant to see her go out of my own anxiety, but I find myself increasingly impressed with her bravery,” her daughter, Lydia Rosengarten, 46, said by telephone. The group’s goal had been to try to reach Gaza and unload aid cargo in what the group said in a statement was a “nonviolent, symbolic act of solidarity and protest and a call for the siege to be lifted to enable free passage of goods and people to and from the Gaza Strip.”