I Will Not Abandon You

Sam Huneke’s I Will Not Abandon You examines the experiences of queer women in Nazi Germany, showing how persecution unfolded even without a specific law criminalizing female homosexuality.

Drawing on extensive archival files, Huneke traces denunciations, police investigations, and the liminal legal status that produced both surveillance and sporadic imprisonment.

The book places lesbian and trans histories within broader debates about victimhood, memory, and postwar restitution.

Huneke also highlights agency and everyday resistance among queer women, balancing accounts of terror with stories of survival and political stakes in memorialization.