“A queer history of the Holocaust”
When: Thursday 25th January, 7pm
Where: S0.21, Social Sciences building

Why were certain stories connected to sexuality of the Holocaust victims, such as people who engaged in same sex conduct, never told?

A couple of days before Holocaust Memorial Day, and in the week before LGBTUA+ History Month, we are proud to present our first lecture in the Hidden Histories series on “a queer history of the Holocaust”.

This event will explore the intersection of sexuality and violence in the Holocaust, and the erasure of certain sexualities from what has become the Holocaust canon. Through examining the narrative erasure of lesbians and gays who were deported as Jews, homophobia of the victim society, and sex barter, and by looking at cases of what can be termed “transgressive sexuality,” this event will contribute to our understanding of gender and sexual violence, consent, normative behavior during the Holocaust, and the politics of Holocaust archives.

This lecture will be delivered by Dr Anna Hájková. Anna is Assistant Professor of Modern Continental history at the University of Warwick. Her book manuscript on everyday history of Theresienstadt was awarded the Irma Rosenberg as well as the Herbert Steiner prize for 2014. She was coeditor of Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente, and she also co-edited Alltag im Holocaust: Jüdisches Leben im Großdeutschen Reich, 1941-1945. Her essay on sexual barter received the Catharine Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship 2013. She is working on a project on transgressive sexuality in the Holocaust.

Come along for what is set to be a fascinating event exploring a topic which is generally erased from mainstream curricula. Refreshments will be provided!