Diana Mara Henry

Diana Mara Henry has devoted her creative and professional life to documenting socio-political phenomena and causes. For her award-winning journalism, she has received grants from the NY State Council on the Arts, the NY Foundation for the Arts, the Schlesinger Library and as an undergraduate at Harvard (BA ’69), the Ferguson History Prize. She grew up speaking French and attended the Lycée Français de NY where she was an honors student in Classique.

Since 1985, when she first visited Natzweiler-Struthof, the camp has been the subject of her exhibits, lectures in French and English, research and academic pursuits. Encouraged by a variety of specialists in the history of the Second World War and the Holocaust, who recognized her to be the most knowledgeable scholar of Natzweiler, she returned for a Master’s Degree in translation at Brandeis (2000), where she fine-tuned her translation of Eugene Marlot’s memoir, l’Enfer d’Alsace. Her website, http://www.natzweiler-struthof.org summarizes her research.

Selected presentation history: Carl Cherry Center for the Arts (exhibit), Carmel, CA, 1990; Alliance Francaise de la Péninsule de Monterey, 1997; Brandeis University, Romance and Comparative Literature Deparment, 1998; French Library and Cultural Center, Boston, 1999; Harvard Hillel, Yom Hashoah, 2000; Annual Holocaust Remembrance Program, co-sponsored by the Veterans Council of Greater New Bedford, UMass-Dartmouth's Boivin Center for French Studies and Center for Jewish Culture, 2001; Springfield College, Holocaust Remembrance Day Lecture, 2007; Association for Jewish Studies Conference panelist, 2009; presenter, 40th Scholars and the Churches Conference, St. Joseph’s University, 2010. Article in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Fall 2011.

Appraisals of the work, as seen on http://www.dianamarahenry.com/natzweiler-struthof/Natzweiler-StruthofTestimonials.htm:

Sir Martin Gilbert:"I was very interested indeed about what you wrote with regard to Natzweiler.....I feel very much that such a book should be written, and would certainly encourage you to do so. "

Robert Abzug: "I also learned of her complete fluency in French...Fluency is of course necessary for any serious study of Natzweiler, and her....translation has already enabled her to make survivor accounts and other pieces of history available to English-speaking audiences..."Ms. Henry has keyed into the most important aspects of the camp....the fact that this was a major incarceration center for captured members of the French underground and other anti-Nazi political movements in western Europe...."Let me simply reiterate...Ms. Henry's intellectual acuity, her proven skills, and her tireless devotion to this project.”

Sister Rose Thiering: "Ms. Henry's project will redress the balance of scholarship and popular historical awareness so prevalent in the USA today....Her needed study will demonstrate and appreciation and re-evaluation of the role of the resistance in the allied victory in Europe. ...I can assure you that this work of Ms. Henry's is of the greatest importance....She has created the first very fine bibliography on the concentration camp as well as other writings of innovative and distinctive character regarding the memoirs of survivors..."

"Last weekend I spent some time with your manuscript -- found it quite absorbing and very well prepared. It's a valuable document, not to mention a good read -- you obviously did an immense amount of work on it. I'm full of admiration for André's resourcefulness and integrity and sheer stamina. Of course, he's keeping many thoughts and emotions below the surface -- he clearly went through hell -- but his generosity and humanity are obvious. Also his sense of humor.... I was captivated by André's voice...eminently publishable. Prime material for a movie, too! I wish you the very best of luck with the manuscript! For your sake and André's."

Senior Editor, Harvard University Press