Where are the stories of great queer love in the Holocaust? There are almost none. Anna Hájková, author of People without History are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust (2025), explains why the history of same-sex desire in the Shoah, that is, queerness among Jews persecuted by the Nazis for their race, has been excluded and marginalized, and how its return to our understanding of the Holocaust can offer an inclusive and feminist history of this genocide. Based on original and extensive archival research, Dr. Hájková's book offers groundbreaking insight into the queer history of the Holocaust.
Dr. Hájková, Reader of Modern European Continental History at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, will introduce her book – winner of a National Jewish Book Award – in conversation with Benjamin Carter Hett, Professor of History, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Content Advisory: This book talk includes sensitive material related to sexual violence, which may be distressing. Attendee discretion is advised.
People without History are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust will be available for purchase and signing after the program.