Eva Kotchever
Who was Eva Kotchever?
Polish-Jewish lesbian writer and women's rights activist
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Eva Kotchever (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Eva Kotchever, originally Chawa Złoczower, was born in 1891 in Mława, Poland, which was then under Russian control. She moved to the United States in the early 1900s and settled in New York City. There, she adopted the names Eve Adams and Eve Addams. In the lively bohemian scene of Greenwich Village, she became a known personality in the literary and social circles of Lower Manhattan during the 1920s.
In 1925, Kotchever opened Eve's Hangout, a salon and tearoom on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. It quickly became one of the few open lesbian social spaces in New York City. The spot drew in writers, artists, and activists, allowing women to socialize freely away from societal norms. The salon highlighted Kotchever's dedication to women's independence and free speech, even when such openness was risky.
In 1926, Kotchever released "Lesbian Love," a collection of pieces about the women she knew and observed. The book was sold at Eve's Hangout and shared within her social circle. Soon after, she was arrested for obscenity and disorderly conduct. Convicted, she served a jail sentence and was deported in 1927 back to Poland, cutting short her life in New York and dismantling the community she had created.
After being deported, Kotchever went to France, where she lived for several years. Her life became extremely dangerous as a Jewish woman when the Nazis occupied France. In 1943, French authorities, under German orders, arrested her. She was sent to Auschwitz on December 17, 1943, and murdered there on December 19, 1943, at about fifty-two.
Kotchever's life has since been honored by various institutions. The Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Council of Paris have all remembered her. Historians and LGBTQ scholars have highlighted her as an early and important example of openly lesbian life and publishing in the U.S., as well as a life cut short by two of the 20th century's most oppressive forces: anti-obscenity laws and the Nazi genocide.
Before Fame
Eva Kotchever was born in 1891 in Mława, a mostly Jewish town in Masovia, which was then under Russian control in partitioned Poland. Jewish communities in this area faced legal discrimination, regular violence, and economic uncertainty, which led many Jewish people to emigrate to Western Europe and North America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Kotchever was one of those who made this journey and eventually arrived in the United States.
In New York City, she settled in Greenwich Village. By the 1910s and 1920s, the neighborhood had become a hub for radical politics, artistic experimentation, and alternative lifestyles. It attracted anarchists, feminists, avant-garde writers, and others who didn't fit into mainstream American norms. In this environment, Kotchever found both a community and a purpose. She focused on her interests in literature, women's rights, and lesbian identity, which defined her time in America.
Key Achievements
- Founded Eve's Hangout in 1925, one of the first openly lesbian literary salons in United States history
- Authored Lesbian Love (1926), an early published work openly addressing lesbian identity and relationships
- Built a visible public community for lesbian women in Greenwich Village during the 1920s
- Recognized posthumously by the Mémorial de la Shoah, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Council of Paris
- Became a documented subject of LGBTQ history, recovered by scholars as a pioneer of open lesbian public life in America
Did You Know?
- 01.Eve's Hangout on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village was one of the first known openly lesbian social establishments in the United States.
- 02.Kotchever was arrested in part because she gave a copy of her book Lesbian Love to an undercover female police officer who had been sent to infiltrate her salon.
- 03.She was born Chawa Złoczower but used at least three different names across her life: Eva Kotchever, Eve Adams, and Eve Addams.
- 04.She was deported from the United States in 1927 and murdered at Auschwitz in 1943, meaning she spent the final sixteen years of her life stateless and in precarious circumstances across Poland and France.
- 05.Her book Lesbian Love is considered one of the earliest published works in English to deal openly and sympathetically with lesbian relationships in the United States.
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Mémorial de la Shoah | — | — |
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | — | — |
| Council of Paris | — | — |