‘BENT’ - The Impact of the Play/Film

'BENT' (1997, dir. Sean Mathias) is adapted from the 1979 play by Martin Sherman. It explores the persecution of Queer men in Nazi Germany, during and after the Night of Long Knives in 1934. During the Holocaust, homosexuals were required to wear pink triangles, a symbol that was later reclaimed as an emblem of Pride. According to Rob Weinert-Kendt, Editor-in-Chief of ‘American Theatre’ Magazine: ‘The reclamation of that hated symbol as a token of pride is just one of the legacies of Sherman’s play, which premiered on London’s West End in a production starring Ian McKellen, and on Broadway in 1980 with Richard Gere in the lead. Life has changed rapidly and radically for gay people in the West since then, as much or more than it had changed between World War II and the dawn of AIDS. What’s easy to forget amid the inexorable march of history is not only how far forward gay liberation has moved but also how little was popularly known in the mid-1970s about gay life under the Nazis. Indeed, even the mere fact that they were among the minority groups rounded up and sent to Nazi detention and death camps—alongside Jews, gypsies and communists—was not then widely known.’

‘BENT’ was first presented at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England, on May 3, 1979. It was directed by Robert Chetwyn. The play subsequently transferred to London's West End at the Criterion Theatre on July 4, 1979. The play premiered on Broadway at the New Apollo Theatre in New York City on December 2, 1979. It was directed by Robert Allan Ackerman.

Co-sponsored by the Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center at CUNY-QCC

During the Holocaust, homosexual men imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps were required to wear inverted pink triangle badges on their uniforms, a symbol that was later reclaimed as an emblem of Gay Pride. Join Dr. Jake Newsome, Scholar and Author of Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust, and Dr. Kerry Whigham, Assistant Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University and Co-Director of its Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, for a conversation about BENT, the 1979 play subsequently adapted for the big screen, which explores the persecution of Queer men in Nazi Germany, during and after the Night of Long Knives in 1934.

Dr. Jake Newsome is an award-winning scholar of German and American LGBTQ+ history whose research and resources educate global audiences. He is the founder and director of the Pink Triangle Legacies Project, which honors the memory of the Nazis' queer victims and carries on their legacy by fighting homophobia and transphobia today through education, advocacy, and empowerment. His book, ‘Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust’ (Cornell University Press) tells the dynamic and inspiring history of the LGBTQ+ community’s original pride symbol. It traces the transformation of the pink triangle from a Nazi concentration camp badge into a widespread emblem of queer liberation, pride, and community. He lives in San Diego with his husband and son.

Kerry Whigham is an Assistant Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University and Co-Director of its Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP). His first book, ‘Resonant Violence: Affect, Memory, and Activism in Post-Genocide Societies,’ is published by Rutgers University Press. He received a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University. In addition to his academic work, he is the Director of Research and Online Education at the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, an international non-governmental organization that works with over 90 countries around the world on creating public policy for the protection of vulnerable groups and the prevention of mass atrocities.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at 11:30am EDT on Zoom

Click here to Register: http://tinyurl.com/y3hnmbf7

Paragraph 175 was an 1871 German statute criminalizing sexual relations between men. Predating the Nazi regime, it was revised in 1935 allowing the Nazis to persecute larger numbers of men more aggressively. Join Dr. Jake Newsome, Scholar and Author of Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust, for a discussion about Paragraph 175’s significance, other Nazi-era attacks against the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as how this history is reflected in contemporary anti-transgender legislation.

This event is part of the 2023-24 Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Colloquium, “Weaponizing the Past: Art, History and the Rhetoric of National Greatness.” The event is organized by the KHC and is co-sponsored by the QCC-CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium; the Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at Western Washington University; the Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at the US Military Academy at West Point; the Holocaust & Human Rights Center in White Plains; and the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University.

Click here to Register: http://tinyurl.com/3bhejrkb

Current Exhibition The Concentration Camps: – Kupferberg Holocaust Center

Survivor Testimonies – Kupferberg Holocaust Center