People Without History Are Dust: Queer Desire and the Holocaust

Where are the stories of great queer love in the Shoah? There are almost none. Anna Hájková 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 extensive archival research, her book offers a concise insight into the queer history of the Holocaust for beginners and advanced alike.

Content warning: The talk will include discussion of sexual/ized violence

Registration for the in-person talk is kindly requested: register here

Registration for the livestream of the talk is required: register here

Event will be followed by a light reception at the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies: 758 N Pleasant St, Amherst, MA 01002

Author Bio: 

Dr Anna Hájková is Reader of modern European continental history at the University of Warwick, UK. She is the author of, among others, The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt (2020) and People Without History Are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust (2025). Hájková is the pioneer of queer Holocaust history.

People Without History Are Dust: Queer Desire and the Holocaust is the 3rd annual CBI Lecture on the Holocaust and Contemporary Issues. Thank you to our donors for making this program possible.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Judaic & Near Eastern Studies and the Institute of Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies at UMass Amherst.