Eva Kotchever

Eva Kotchever (born as Chava Zloczower , also Eva Zloczower on June 15, 1891 in Mława , Poland , Russian Empire ; murdered in 1943 in Auschwitz ) was a Polish innkeeper , known under the pseudonym Eve Addams , who opened the first pub for lesbians in 1925 New York City opened and wrote lesbian prose . She became a symbol of the LGBT movement.

biography

Chawa ( Hebrew for Eva ) Zloczower was the daughter of Polish Jews . In 1912 she emigrated to the United States and took the name Eva Kotchever. In Chicago she ran a tea house with another woman. She also called herself Eve Adams or Eve Addams and publicly used her androgynous pseudonym, which is made up of Adam and Eve .

In 1925, she opened Eve Addams' tearoom at 129 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village , New York City. The restaurant, which is mostly frequented by women, was also called Eve's Hangout . The program included weekly poetry readings and musical performances.

In front of the restaurant there was a sign saying: “ Men are admitted, but not welcome ” (German: “Men are allowed, but not welcome”). No alcohol was served in the room. It developed into a popular meeting place for Jewish migrants and women loving women who could meet in the shelter of closed doors. At that time, Kotchever was known as “ the queen of the third sex ” because of her masculine appearance , which was a common name for homosexuals at the time. She made friends with the writer Henry Miller , whom she allegedly lent money, with the author Anaïs Nin , who often described lesbian sex in her erotic stories, and with the anarchist Emma Goldman .

Greenwich Village Quill journalist Bobby Edwards wrote about the place in 1926: “ Where ladies prefer each other. Not very healthy for she-adolescents, nor comfortable for he-men. "(German:" Where women prefer each other. Not very healthy for female adolescents, uncomfortable for male men. ")

After a police raid in June 1926, Kotchever was found guilty of obscenity for having written the short story collection Lesbian Love , self-published it and distributed to friends. She was also accused of "rude" approaching police officer Margaret Leonard, who had entered the bar undercover. Kotchever danced closely with her and touched her on the chest in a taxi, Leonard said. Kotchever is also said to have invited her to his home and thrown her on a bed to be sexually active with her. A neighbor named Jay Fitzpatrick also wrote a letter to authorities claiming that Kotchever regularly seduced young women in her apartment.

The nightclub was closed by the authorities because of all these allegations. Eva Kotchever was expelled from the United States in December 1926 after several months' imprisonment, although an uncle in Hartford had offered to pay her $ 1,000 bail. Kotchever expressed himself desperately: “ I love this country with my whole heart and soul, and I have made application for my final papers. I want to become a citizen. If I am deported, my life is ruined. "(German:" I love this country with heart and soul and have applied for final papers. I want to become a citizen. If I am deported, my life will be ruined. ")

She then moved back to Poland and in the 1930s to Paris, where she is said to have opened a new lesbian club on Montmartre . Like many Parisian artists and writers, she was a regular at the Café du Dôme restaurant . In the Spanish Civil War she is said to have fought against the dictator Franco , but this was doubted.

She was arrested in Nice and deported from the Drancy assembly camp to Auschwitz on December 17, 1943 , and murdered.

memory

In 1929, in memory of Eva Kotchever, a play based on her collected short stories Lesbian Love was played in a basement theater on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village . The book is no longer available today; isolated copies are said to be in private hands.

The Off-Off-Broadway Theater for the New City performed three plays by Barbara Kahn about the life of Eva Kotchever in New York, The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams (2010), Unreachable Eden (2012) and Imprisoned Girls (2013) on.

Street sign in Paris

Kotchever's former Eve Addams' Tearoom is one of the sights on historic walking tours of Manhattan where gay and lesbian nightlife boomed from the 1890s to the 1920s.

The city of Paris named a school after her on Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement of Paris in 2019 and a street called Rue Eva Kotchever . The inscription on the street sign honors her as “ Pionnière des Droits des Femmes ” (German: “Pioneer of women's rights”).

Her name, spelled Eva Zloczower, is engraved on the wall of the name of the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris.

literature

Kotchever, Eva (Eve Addams). In: George Chauncey : Gay New York. Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. Basic Books, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-465-02621-0 , pp. 240-243 and 323.

Web links

Commons : Eva Kotchever - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ EVA ZLOCZOWER. In: Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
↑ ^a ^b Eve Adam's Tearoom . In: NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. NYC 2017.
^ ^A ^b Rictor Norton: Myth of the Modern Homosexual. Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity . Bloomsbury Academic, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-4742-8693-0 , p. 181.
↑ ^a ^b ^c All About Eve (Adams). In: Times of Israel. The New York Jewish Week. April 13, 2017, accessed March 1, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d George Chauncey: Gay New York. Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 . Basic Books, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-465-02621-0 , p. 240.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Reina Gattuso: The Founder of America's Earliest Lesbian Bar Was Deported for Obscenity . In: Atlas Obscura, September 3, 2019
↑ https://www.queerephemera.com/shownotes/s01e02
↑ George Chauncey: Gay New York. Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 . Basic Books, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-465-02621-0 , p. 241.
↑ Imprisoned For Who She Was. In: The New York Jewish Week. Times of Israel. December 24, 2013.
^ Brian Sloan: You Could Be in a Gay Bar Right Now and Not Even Know It. In: The New York Times. June 20, 2018, accessed in 2020 .
↑ Eva Kotchever élémentaire publique . In: Paris.fr.
^ Eva Zloczower , in: Find a Grave , December 16, 2008 (accessed March 2, 2020)

personal data
SURNAME	Kotchever, Eva
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Zloczower, Chava; Zloczower, Eva (maiden name); Kotchover, Eva (alternative spelling); Eve Addams (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Polish feminist writer
DATE OF BIRTH	June 15, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mława , Poland , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH	December 17, 1943
Place of death	Auschwitz concentration camp

[1] EVA ZLOCZOWER. In: Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

[NYC_LGBT-2] Eve Adam's Tearoom . In: NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. NYC 2017.

[Norton-3] A ^b Rictor Norton: Myth of the Modern Homosexual. Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity . Bloomsbury Academic, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-4742-8693-0 , p. 181.

[timesofisrael-4] All About Eve (Adams). In: Times of Israel. The New York Jewish Week. April 13, 2017, accessed March 1, 2020 .

[Chauncey-5] George Chauncey: Gay New York. Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 . Basic Books, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-465-02621-0 , p. 240.

[atlasobscura-6] Reina Gattuso: The Founder of America's Earliest Lesbian Bar Was Deported for Obscenity . In: Atlas Obscura, September 3, 2019

[7] ttps://www.queerephemera.com/shownotes/s01e02

[8] George Chauncey: Gay New York. Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 . Basic Books, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-465-02621-0 , p. 241.

[9] Imprisoned For Who She Was. In: The New York Jewish Week. Times of Israel. December 24, 2013.

[10] Brian Sloan: You Could Be in a Gay Bar Right Now and Not Even Know It. In: The New York Times. June 20, 2018, accessed in 2020 .

[11] Eva Kotchever élémentaire publique . In: Paris.fr.

[12] Eva Zloczower , in: Find a Grave , December 16, 2008 (accessed March 2, 2020)