Anna Hájková

Anna Hájková (born 1978) is a Czech-British historian who is currently a faculty member at the University of Warwick. She specializes in the study of everyday life during the Holocaust and sexuality and the Holocaust.[1] According to Hájková, "My approach to queer Holocaust history shows a more complex, more human, and more real society beyond monsters and saints."[2]

Family

Hájková is the granddaughter of Czech historian Miloš Hájek (1921–2016) and his first wife, Alena Hájková (1924–2012), a historian who specialized in studying Czech Jewish resistance to Nazism. Both were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, and Miloš was a Charter 77 signatory and spokesperson.[3][4] She is Jewish.[2]

Career

From 1998 to 2006, Hájková studied modern history at the Humboldt University Berlin and the University of Amsterdam. She obtained a master's degree under the supervision of Hartmut Kaelble with a thesis titled "Die Juden aus den Niederlanden im Ghetto Theresienstadt, 1943-1945" (The Jews from the Netherlands in Theresienstadt Ghetto, 1943–1945).[5] She received her PhD from the University of Toronto in 2013. Her thesis, supervised by Doris Bergen, was titled, "Prisoner Society in the Terezin Ghetto, 1941-1945", regarding the prisoner society in Theresienstadt Ghetto.[6] Her dissertation received the awards Irma-Rosenberg-Preis [de] and Herbert-Steiner-Preis [de].[7][8] In 2013, she published the paper "Sexual Barter in Times of Genocide: Negotiating the Sexual Economy of the Theresienstadt Ghetto", which received the Catharine Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship.[9] According to Michal Frankl, this study uses "a new and inspiring methodological approach".[10] Since 2013, she has been a professor at the University of Warwick.[11]

In 2020, her book The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt was published by Oxford University Press,[4] which Frankl described as an "important book project".[10] The same year, she edited an issue of German History titled "Sexuality, Holocaust, Stigma".[12] She is the chairwoman of the academic advisory board of Společnost pro queer paměť [de] ("Society for Queer Memory"), a Czech society which collects information about LGBT history.[13] Hájková has also published articles about historical topics in newspapers and magazines such as Haaretz, Tablet Magazine, and History Today.[14]

Personal rights case

In April 2020, a German court found that Hájková had violated the personal rights of a deceased Holocaust survivor[2] by concluding from witness testimonies that it was not unlikely the then camp inmate had entertained a relationship with SS guard Anneliese Kohlmann.[15] Whilst Anneliese Kohlmann explicitly stated in her post-war trial she had fallen in love with this particular inmate,[16] recent legal investigations arise from the remaining uncertainties regarding the extent to which the camp inmate might or might not have responded to Kohlmann's affection.[17]

Works

  • Hájková, Anna (2013). "Sexual Barter in Times of Genocide: Negotiating the Sexual Economy of the Theresienstadt Ghetto". Signs. 38 (3): 503–533. doi:10.1086/668607. S2CID 142859604.
  • Hájková, Anna (2013). Prisoner Society in the Terezin Ghetto, 1941-1945 (PhD thesis). University of Toronto.
  • Löw, Andrea; Bergen, Doris L.; Hájková, Anna, eds. (2014). Alltag im Holocaust: Jüdisches Leben im Großdeutschen Reich 1941–1945 [Everyday Life during the Holocaust: Jewish Lives in the Greater German Reich, 1941–1945] (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH. ISBN 978-3-486-73567-3.[18][19]
  • Lebovič, Eugen; Hájková, Pavla (2018). Hájková, Anna (ed.). Čekám, až se vrátíš: rodinné deníky z války [I am Waiting For You to Come Back: Wartime Family Diaries] (in Czech). NLN. ISBN 978-80-7422-655-7.[20]
  • Hájková, Anna; Heydt, Maria von der (2019). Die letzten Berliner Veit Simons: Holocaust, Geschlecht und das Ende des deutsch-jüdischen Bürgertums [The Last Veit Simons from Berlin. Holocaust, Gender, and the End of the German-Jewish Bourgeoisie] (in German). Hentrich und Hentrich Verlag Berlin. ISBN 978-3-95565-301-9.[21][22]
  • Hájková, Anna (2020). The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-005177-8.[4][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]
  • Hájková, Anna (2021). Menschen ohne Geschichte sind Staub: Homophobie und Holocaust. Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8353-3769-5.[31][32]

References

  1. ^ "Anna Hájková". The Conversation. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Batty, David (8 October 2020). "Holocaust survivor's daughter in legal battle with historian over claim of lesbian liaison with Nazi guard". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  3. ^ Charter 77 spokesman Miloš Hájek dies at 94, Radia Praha, 26. Februar 2016
  4. ^ a b c Holý, Jiří (2021). "Ghetto Terezín — společenství založené na nerovnosti". Slovo a Smysl (in Czech). 18 (37): 175–179. ISSN 1214-7915.
  5. ^ Digitalisiertes Manuskript, pdf zum Download in: Digital Collections, Center for Jewish History[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ Hájková, Anna (November 2013). Prisoner Society in the Terezin Ghetto, 1941-1945 (PhD thesis). University of Toronto.
  7. ^ Verleihung der Irma Rosenberg-Preise 2014, Universität Wien
  8. ^ Herbert-Steiner-Preis 2014, DÖW
  9. ^ Hájková, Anna (2013). "Sexual Barter in Times of Genocide: Negotiating the Sexual Economy of the Theresienstadt Ghetto". Signs. 38 (3): 503–533. doi:10.1086/668607. S2CID 142859604.
  10. ^ a b Frankl, Michal (2017). "Free of Controversy? Recent Research on the Holocaust in the Bohemian Lands". Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust. 31 (3): 262–270. doi:10.1080/23256249.2017.1371725. S2CID 165816065.
  11. ^ "Dr Anna Hájková". warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  12. ^ Hájková, Anna (2020). "Introduction: Sexuality, Holocaust, Stigma*". German History. 39: 1–14. doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghaa033.
  13. ^ queerpamet.cz academic advisory board
  14. ^ "Articles by Anna Hájková | OUPblog, Haaretz, openDemocracy Journalist | Muck Rack". muckrack.com. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Daughter of Holocaust survivor sues historian over claim her mother had a lesbian relationship with a Nazi guard". PinkNews. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  16. ^ Hájková, Anna (14 December 2019). "Als sich eine Aufseherin in die Jüdin Helene Sommer verliebte". www.tagesspiegel.de (in German). Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  17. ^ "Lecturer taken to court for suggesting late Holocaust survivor had affair with SS camp guard". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  18. ^ Friedrich, Klaus-Peter (2015). "Andrea Löw u.a. (Hrsg.), Alltag im Holocaust. Jüdisches Leben im Großdeutschen Reich 1941-1945". Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung (in German). 64 (2): 305–306. ISSN 0948-8294.
  19. ^ Kilian, Jürgen (2014). "Review of Alltag im Holocaust. Jüdisches Leben im Großdeutschen Reich 1941–1945 (Schriftenreihe der Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 106), Andrea Löw, , Anna Hájková". VSWG: Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte. 101 (1): 92–93. ISSN 0340-8728. JSTOR 24548504.
  20. ^ Review by Jiří Křesťan in Soudobé dějiny (2019) (2/3) https://www.recensio.net/rezensionen/zeitschriften/soudobe-dejiny/2019/2-3/ReviewMonograph68469417 https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=804343
  21. ^ Schilde, Kurt (2020). "Redaktion: Anna Hájková/Maria von der Heydt: Die letzten Berliner Veit Simons | Medaon". Medaon (in German).
  22. ^ Krah, Franziska (2021). "Anna Hájková and Maria von der Heydt, Die letzten Berliner Veit Simons: Holocaust, Geschlecht und das Ende des deutsch-jüdischen Bürgertums / The Last Veit Simons from Berlin: Holocaust, Gender, and the End of the German–Jewish Bourgeoisie". GHI London Bulletin 2021, Bd. 43, Nr. 1. 43 (1): 150–153. ISSN 0269-8552.
  23. ^ Goldberg, Amos (1 September 2022). "Social Structure in Theresienstadt". The American Historical Review. 127 (3). Oxford University Press (OUP): 1409–1412. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhac227. ISSN 0002-8762.
  24. ^ Cole, Tim (2022). "The Last Ghetto. An Everyday History of Theresienstadt". German History. 40 (2): 305–306. doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghac006.
  25. ^ Nešťáková, Denisa (2021). "Hájková, Anna. The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt". East Central Europe. 48 (2–3): 357–360. doi:10.30965/18763308-48020014. ISSN 1876-3308. S2CID 244881691.
  26. ^ Gruner, Wolf (2022). "The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt by Anna Hájková (review)". AJS Review. 46 (1): 178–180. doi:10.1353/ajs.2022.0020. ISSN 1475-4541. S2CID 253559406.
  27. ^ Peschel, Lisa (2022). "The last ghetto: an everyday history of Theresienstadt: by Anna Hájková, New York, Oxford University Press, 2020, x + 364 pp., US$34.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-19-005177-8". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 64 (1): 89–94. doi:10.1080/00085006.2022.2027134. S2CID 248267487.
  28. ^ Silverstein, Jordana (2022). "Anna Hájková, The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), p. 376. ISBN 0190051779". Gender & History. 34 (1): 305–307. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.12600. S2CID 247249527.
  29. ^ Simon, Amy (2023). "Book Review: The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt by Anna Hájková". Journal of Contemporary History. 58 (2): 368–369. doi:10.1177/00220094231170548b. S2CID 258136484.
  30. ^ "Lawrence L. Langer, review of Anna Hájková's "The Last Ghetto"". George L. Mosse Program in History. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  31. ^ Redaktion, Radio LOTTE. ""Menschen ohne Geschichte sind Staub. Homophobie und Holocaust"". Radio LOTTE Weimar (in German). Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  32. ^ ""Sexualität hat eine Geschichte"". the little queer review (in German). 23 October 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2022.