Samuel Huneke

I picked up my copies of A Queer Theory of the State from @floatingoperapress recently, and I couldn’t be happier with this gorgeous little volume.

Have you ever wondered how queer life survived under Nazism? Next Tuesday in Oakland, Sam Huneke talks with Elena Gross about "I Will Not Abandon You: Queer Women in Nazi Germany" Register in advance at cliosbooks.com !! Samuel Huneke is a historian of Modern Europe and associate professor of history at George Mason University. Elena Gross (she/they) is an independent writer and curator living in Oakland, CA.

Upcoming book talks!

They’re here!!!!!

First book launch for I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU on April 3! Stop by or zoom in: https://chr.gmu.edu/events/18038

Next Wednesday in Berlin: @schuneke presents I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU: Queer Women in Nazi Germany, which will be published next month. Thanks @whitlamsberlintours for hosting and @curiousfoxbooks . EU residents can preorder the book by emailing the store. RSVP on Eventbrite (link in bio). *** In his latest book, award-winning historian Samuel Clowes Huneke shows how love, queer resistance, and collective action survived in the harrowing circumstances of Nazi rule. Drawing on a decade of archival research, Huneke takes readers into a hidden world, from the wartime balls that lesbian activists continued to organize to the concentration camps where women accused of loving women were imprisoned. Following a diverse cast of characters, Huneke reveals both the oppression that queer women faced and how they resisted fascism in solidarity with one another. Arguing that this solidarity – which transcended race, class, and gender – offers a compelling alternative to today’s fractured identity politics, I Will Not Abandon You is a vital, new history of queer life under fascism and a call to rethink the foundations of progressive politics today.

Proofs!! I’ve been working on this material for years, and I’m thrilled that it’s seeing the light of day in Journal of Contemporary History. It asks what ordinary Germans made of the democratization imposed on them by the Allies, analyzing the paradox that democratization is fundamentally an undemocratic policy imposed without the consent of the governed.

GALLEY GIVEAWAY: Samuel Clowes Huneke’s I Will Not Abandon You: Queer Women in Nazi Germany (Toronto, April 2026). To enter: like this post, tag a friend in the comments, and follow @vestopr . Giveaway ends 1/20 and the winner will be notified by DM. US only. “I Will Not Abandon You” brings to life the extraordinary history of lesbians under the Nazi regime. Huneke depicts the lively underground scene of hidden bars, raucous parties, and all-women balls that flourished despite Nazi attempts to eliminate queerness. He details the suffering of those who fell into Nazi clutches, and the heroic resistors who lived their lives bravely and helped others to survive. This book is a welcome contribution to the history of love between women in the 20th century.” –Lillian Faderman, author of Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in 20th Century America “Piecing together a gripping account through painstaking archival research, Huneke illuminates the complexities of lesbian lives in Nazi Germany. He shows how, in the face of multiple agents of social control with inconsistent attitudes and policies, some lesbians, even Jewish lesbians, found ways to slip through the cracks in the system—and even throw queer dances. Be prepared for one amazing story after another detailing the “queer ingenuity” that troubles the victim/agent binary and reveals the possibilities of surviving a murderous regime. This is a stunning book, with lessons we need now.” –Leila J. Rupp, Distinguished Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Samuel Clowes Huneke's "I Will Not Abandon You: Queer Women in Nazi Germany" will be published by Aevo, the trade imprint of @utpress , on April 14, 2026. In his latest book, award-winning historian Samuel Clowes Huneke shows how love, queer resistance, and collective action survived in the harrowing circumstances of Nazi rule. Drawing on a decade of archival research, Huneke takes readers into a hidden world, from the wartime balls that lesbian activists continued to organize to the concentration camps where women accused of loving women were imprisoned. Following a diverse cast of characters, Huneke reveals both the oppression that queer women faced and how they resisted fascism in solidarity with one another. Arguing that this solidarity – which transcended race, class, and gender – offers a compelling alternative to today’s fractured identity politics, "I Will Not Abandon You" is a vital, new history of queer life under fascism and a call to rethink the foundations of progressive politics today. Samuel Clowes Huneke is associate professor of History at George Mason University. He is the author of "A Queer Theory of the State" (@floatingoperapress ) and "States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany," awarded the David Barclay Book Prize of the German Studies Association and the Smith Book Award of the Southern Historical Association. He has written for Time, Boston Review, The Baffler, and Los Angeles Review of Books.

I’ll be giving a public lecture *Being Queer in Times of Trouble* at the Goethe Institute in DC on June 4 in conversation with activists Mai Manion and Andrew Tisell.

So excited to be giving the opening keynote at this conference on new directions in German history. I’ll be talking about how Nazis persecuted queer women and how those women resisted fascism.

Reimagining Citizenship in Postwar Europe is real! You can get your copy (it’s open access!) here: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501779206/reimagining-citizenship-in-postwar-europe/