The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt

Terezín, as it was known in Czech, or Theresienstadt as it was known in German, was operated by the Nazis between November 1941 and May 1945 as a transit ghetto for Central and Western European Jews before their deportation for murder in the East. Terezín was the last ghetto to be liberated, one day after the end of World War II.  

The Last Ghetto is the first in-depth analytical history of a prison society during the Holocaust. Dr. Hajkova's research sheds light on how people adapt, survive, and find belonging in the most extreme situations, highlighting the power of human resilience.

Dr Anna Hájková is Reader of modern European continental history at the University of Warwick. She is the author of the celebrated new study The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt (2020) and People without History are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust (2021), forthcoming in expanded English translation with the University of Toronto Press. She is the pioneer of queer Holocaust history and her work has been recognized with the Catharine Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship (2013) and Orfeo Iris Prize (2020).

Maestro James Conlon of the LA Opera is one of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, who has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire. Since his 1974 debut with the New York Philharmonic, he has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and videography, numerous essays and commentaries, frequent television appearances and guest speaking engagements, Mr. Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized interpreters. He spearheaded the LA Opera's Recovered Voices project, which focuses on music that was suppressed by the Nazis and/or created by composers who died in the Holocaust. Maestro Conlon has a particular interest in the history of Theresienstadt.

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