From Invisibility to Hypervisibility: Queer Testimonies to the Holocaust Across France and Italy
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis homes in on the taboo pairing of sexuality and the Holocaust, in relation to cultural material from France and Italy. I study the testimonies of non-cisheteronormative people who were persecuted and/or deported during World War II, whether or not because of their sexuality and gender identity. Those deported for their sexuality were often called ‘pink triangles’ for their insignia in the camps, notably following the publication of Die Männer mit dem rosa Winkel [The Men with the Pink Triangle] (1972), the testimony of Austrian ‘pink triangle’ survivor Josef Kohout, which had an impact on activists, historians and survivors. It catalysed what I theorise to be the ‘age of the queer witness’: the rising visibility of queer testimonies to the Holocaust. I insist on the notions of ‘visibility’, ‘invisibility’ and ‘hypervisibility’, that retain a Möbius strip-like relationship, for a theorisation that bears importance for thinking about cis-heterosexism, racism, ableism or other forms of stigmatisation. I emphasise the impact of context on individual accounts and I study the work of activist-historians and ‘early queer theorists’ who were instrumental in the ‘age of the queer witness’. The advent of the ‘queer witness’ is an international phenomenon stretching from 1972 to the present day: the chapters cover this period in a mostly linear fashion and cross borders from Austria to Germany and to the United Kingdom and the United States of America, while retaining focus on France and Italy. The thesis is made up of three parts, with two chapters in each. These cover a breadth of historical material related to the persecution of queer people. None of the survivors whose accounts I put emphasis on were ‘pink triangles’, yet their testimonies were all impacted by this symbol and identity category. The Introduction lays out the ‘age of the queer witness’ beginning in 1972 as supported by a summary of The Men with the Pink Triangle’s interest in various degrees of …
abstract: This thesis homes in on the taboo pairing of sexuality and the Holocaust, in relation to cultural material from France and Italy. I study the testimonies of non-cisheteronormative people who were persecuted and/or deported during World War II, whether or not because of their sexuality and gender identity. Those deported for their sexuality were often called ‘pink triangles’ for their insignia in the camps, notably following the publication of Die Männer mit dem rosa Winkel [The Men with the Pink Triangle] (1972), the testimony of Austrian ‘pink triangle’ survivor Josef Kohout, which had an impact on activists, historians and survivors. It catalysed what I theorise to be the ‘age of the queer witness’: the rising visibility of queer testimonies to the Holocaust. I insist on the notions of ‘visibility’, ‘invisibility’ and ‘hypervisibility’, that retain a Möbius strip-like relationship, for a theorisation that bears importance for thinking about cis-heterosexism, racism, ableism or other forms of stigmatisation. I emphasise the impact of context on individual accounts and I study the work of activist-historians and ‘early queer theorists’ who were instrumental in the ‘age of the queer witness’. The advent of the ‘queer witness’ is an international phenomenon stretching from 1972 to the present day: the chapters cover this period in a mostly linear fashion and cross borders from Austria to Germany and to the United Kingdom and the United States of America, while retaining focus on France and Italy. The thesis is made up of three parts, with two chapters in each. These cover a breadth of historical material related to the persecution of queer people. None of the survivors whose accounts I put emphasis on were ‘pink triangles’, yet their testimonies were all impacted by this symbol and identity category. The Introduction lays out the ‘age of the queer witness’ beginning in 1972 as supported by a summary of The Men with the Pink Triangle’s interest in various degrees of …
author: Petocz, Orsolya Katalin
language: eng
keywords: Holocaust, Queer Studies, Trans Studies, Testimony, Documentary, World War II
license: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/f8b4e0e7-4a19-4474-a2d3-948385e6baae/download
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2024-08-07
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:18Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.114414