Literárny salón: Anna Hájková

Holocaust historian Anna Hájková will present her findings from her book People without history are dust – Queer desire and the Holocaust.

The discussion on queer history of the Holocaust is also the opening event of the
Literary Salon, which for the third time is organized by the Goethe-Institut and the Volkswagen Slovakia Foundation. The Literary Salon offers a series of discussions dedicated to exceptional German-language literature, which is why all events are held in German and Slovak.

The queer history of the Holocaust, that is, the history of same-sex desire during the Holocaust, has until recently been a white space of historical research. This is due to the widespread homophobia of victims or survivors, which has led to the voices of these people being largely erased from the archives. Anna Hájek’s research in People Without History Are Dust offers an informed perspective on a long-secret queer history that is transforming our understanding of Holocaust history.

The aim of meeting Anna Hájková is both to bring the taboo subject of queer Holocaust history back into collective memory and to better understand the world of the victims of Nazi genocide.

The event will be held in Slovak with simultaneous interpretation into German.