Abstract
ABSTRACT For many Holocaust historians, prostitution is a source of profound discomfort and tends to be interpreted only as sexual violence. This essay presents a historiographical and empirical 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. The essay presents 15 case studies of women and men, both heterosexual and queer, who engaged in sexual barter with fellow victims, bystanders, and perpetrators in ghettos, in concentration camps and in hiding. Finally, the article considers the stigma attached to sex work and puts forward a plea for the necessity of a critical reading of common assumptions about stigma.
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