The Hard Questions: On Barter, Prostitution, and Help as Social Interaction

• In Event: Sex Work in Ordinary Lives: Narratives of Mobility and Intimate Labor in Trans-Atlantic Migrations and the Holocaust

Abstract

For many Holocaust historians, prostitution is a source of profound discomfort and tends to be interpreted only as sexual violence. This talk continues my intervention on why incorporating the notion of sex work as labour sheds new light on our understanding of the society of victims, the agency of the people who bartered sex, and the value of intimacy in these enforced circumstances. I look at the case study of a German Jewish mother and daughter, who went into hiding with the mother’s non Jewish lover in Berlin. During the two years in hiding, the rescuer started a relationship with the daughter as well. In November 1944, the three were arrested and the man was charged with “race defilement.” The case, previously explored by Alexandra Przyrembel and Richard Lutjens, casts light on issues of reciprocity, payment, and the necessity of making space for these difficult histories. I offer my reading of this difficult history based on my research of the Gestapo trial, postwar reparations, applications as rescuer and “victim of Fascism,” as well as my interview of the grand/son of the people in question.

Author

• Anna Hajkova, University of Warwick