What was society like in the Nazi ghettos?
A SSEES Study of Central Europe Seminar with Dr Anna Hájková, University of Warwick, a free event see booking link below
Terezín, as it was known in Czech, or Theresienstadt, as it was known in German, was operated by the Nazis between November 1941 and May 1945 as a transit ghetto for Central and Western European Jews before their deportation for murder in the East. Today, Theresienstadt is best known for the Nazi propaganda of the International Red Cross visit, cultural life, and children. But these aspects explain little what defined the lives of its 140,000 inmates. The Last Ghetto offers both a modern history of this Central European ghetto and the first in-depth analytical history of a prison society during the Holocaust. In conversation with Professor Eric Gordy (SSEES UCL), the author will discuss how can we write a history of enforced society in the Holocaust. The discussion will also address the question of Jewish Councils and the place of Jewish and Holocaust history in wider Central European history.
Note: This event will be delivered in person on UCL campus. Should circumstances change, ticket holders will be notified in advance.
About the speaker:
Dr Anna Hájková is Associate Professor at the University of Warwick. Her first book, The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt, came out in 2020 with Oxford University Press to popular and academic acclaim. Her article “Sexual Barter in Times of Genocide“ was awarded the Catharine Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship in 2013. She is currently working on two projects: a study of transgressive sexuality in the Holocaust, for which she is writing a trade book on the Neuengamme guard Anneliese Kohlmann, and queer Holocaust history. Her work on queer history of the Holocaust has been published in Czech, German, British, US American, and Israeli newspapers, and was recognized with the Orfeo Iris Award in 2020. She recently guest edited a special issue of German History on “Holocaust, Sexuality, Stigma”. Additionally, she is working on a generational history of Communists in Central Europe.
