On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we remember the millions of lives lost and the countless acts of courage and resistance that remind us of humanity’s resilience. Six million Jews were killed during the years of Hitler’s reign and their loss still reverberates today. Among those also persecuted by the Nazis were queer and gender-nonconforming people. People whose identities were erased, persecuted, or silenced, yet who still found ways to resist, love, and live authentically.
Author Milo Todd brings light to those stories through his bestselling debut novel, The Lilac People, which explores queer and trans existence in 1930s–40s Germany with rare depth and empathy.
Todd — a Lambda Literary Fellow, Massachusetts Cultural Council grantee, and co–Editor-in-Chief of Foglifter Journal (and a past speaker with SpeakOUT)— has been widely recognized for his contribution to LGBTQ+ storytelling. The Lilac People has been celebrated by The Washington Post, LA Times, Publishers Weekly, and others as a groundbreaking addition to historical fiction, reminding readers that remembrance must also include queer and trans narratives.
A Reflection from Milo Todd, author of The Lilac People:
“I’m fascinated by queer and trans people throughout history; existence, community, language, all of it. How things evolve and change over time or stay surprisingly similar. Believe it or not, I’ve written several other novels. The Lilac People was just the first one to finally get picked up. But in all of my books, queer and gender-nonconforming history are important to me to showcase, especially since our modern times are experiencing a revival of denying our historical existence.
I started research for The Lilac People back in 2015 or so. The world was different then. Even as the United States started to tip into how we know it today, despite some parallels I saw unfolding (simultaneously while I was researching many of these same things, which was a surreal experience), I made the conscious effort to not let modern developments alter how I tackled the book. This wasn’t about the current US; this was about 1930s and ’40s Germany. Any overlap was coincidental.
That said, I approach my writing with the belief that hope and pain aren’t mutually exclusive. Times of great pain always also have hope and survival. You just need to know where to look. To paraphrase Mister Rogers, when times are tough, look for the helpers. And then become a helper yourself. I feel many of us believe that we have to do something grand to make a difference. But so-called small actions can be just as, if not more, life-altering. We hold a lot more power for positive change than we think.
People fail, things suck, and history echoes. But time and again, supporting one another is how we’ve gotten through difficult times. It’s true throughout history, it’s true now, and it’ll be true forever forward. We’re not the first people to experience something like this and we won’t be the last. And in a weird way, that gives me comfort. As what accidentally became my catchphrase while on tour: ‘The ghosts of history are watching, kissing our foreheads.’”
As we honor lives lost and those who resisted, we remember: the past isn’t gone, it speaks to us, urging us toward empathy, action, and remembrance.
May we listen and may we always speak out.
Expand your knowledge by exploring the resource list compiled by SpeakOUT speaker and volunteer Heath Umbreit, MLIS, below.
Books
The Lilac People by Milo Todd - This historical novel follows Bertie, a trans man who lives through WWII in hiding with his partner, Sofie. As the war ends, they find a young trans man collapsed near their home, still dressed in prison camp clothes, and vow to protect him from the Allied forces who are re-arresting queer prisoners while liberating the rest of the country.
Heavyweight: A Family Story of the Holocaust, Empire, and Memory by Solomon J. Brager - This memoir, told in graphic novel-style, explores Brager’s familial account of their great-grandparents’ escape from Nazi Germany, grappling with themes of inherited trauma, family mythology, world history, and the formation of identity and the self.
Milena and Margarete: A Love Story in Ravensbrück by Gwen Strauss - Milena Jesenska was a gender nonconforming, bisexual, anti-fascist Czech journalist. Margarete Buber-Neumann survived a Soviet gulag for two years before being traded to Nazi Germany. In 1940, the women met in the Ravensbrück concentration camp and fell in love. This biography tells their story.
The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports by Michael Waters - This nonfiction account tells the story of pioneering trans and intersex athletes against the backdrop of the Olympic Games in Nazi Berlin, the historical erasure of these athletes, and the connections to today’s panic around trans and intersex people in sports.
People Without History are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust by Anna Hájková - Queerness remains one of the most stigmatized and erased aspects of Holocaust history. This nonfiction book tells the stories of queer and Jewish Holocaust victims and survivors to illuminate intersectional hidden histories in a time of genocide.
Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust by W. Jake Newsome - A nonfiction account about how the LGBTQIA+ community transformed the pink triangle from its initial use as a Nazi concentration camp badge into a recognizable symbol of queer liberation.
Resistance: The LGBT Fight Against Fascism in WWII by Avery Cassell - This 2019 Lambda Literary Award finalist honors LGBTQIA+ people who fought against the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. It includes 41 historical biographies and is illustrated by 21 modern LGBTQIA+ activists.
Audio & Visual
Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate (Netflix) - Directed by Benjamin Cantu, this 2023 documentary traces how the social freedoms of 1920s Germany gave way to the Nazis’ persecution of LGBTQIA+ people through the lens of the titular Eldorado, a queer Berlin nightclub.
KHC: Centering LGBTQIA+ Voices (KHC Recorded Programs, via YouTube) - This nine-part audiovisual series features conversations about the Nazis’ persecution of LGBTQIA+ people, how this legacy reverberates in our contemporary society, and ways the community both memorializes and celebrates its history.
The Nazi Era (Making Gay History podcast, season 14) - In this twelve-part series, host Eric Marcus discusses the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people during the rise of the Nazi regime, World War II, and the Holocaust.
Additional Reading
“Holocaust History Shows Queer People Have Always Been Their Own Heroes” by Kate Sosin (The 19th News) - An article about queer historians’ work to archive and memorialize LGBTQIA+ Holocaust history and resistance against the Nazis.
“A License to Be (Different): 'Friends and Helpers' of Trans People in the Weimar Republic” by Thomas Jander (Deutsches Historisches Museum) - An article about sociologist Magnus Hirschfeld’s work.
“Trans Liminality and the Nazi State” by Zavier Nunn (Past & Present, Vol. 260(1)) - A microhistory about the life of trans woman Gerd R. in Weimar Berlin and Nazi Germany.