{{Short description|Polish feminist writer (1891–1943)}} {{For|the Canadian politician|Eve Adams}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Eva Kotchever | other_names = Chawa Złoczower, Eve Adams, Evelyn Addams, Eve AddamsI | image = | caption = Eva Kotchever (right) in the 1920s | birth_name = Chawa Złoczower | birth_date = {{birth date text|15 June 1891}} | birth_place = [[Mława]], [[Congress Poland]], Russian Empire | death_date = {{death date and age|1943|12|19|1891|df=y}} | death_place = [[Auschwitz]], [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|Nazi German occupated Poland]] | occupation = [[Librarian]], [[writer]], [[novelist]], [[bartender]] | signature = Eve Zlotchever Signature.png }}
'''Eva Kotchever''' (1891 – 19 December 1943), known also as '''Eve Adams''' or '''Eve Addams''', born as '''Chawa Złoczower''', was a Polish-Jewish émigré librarian and writer, who is the author of ''Lesbian Love'' and from 1925 to 1926 ran a popular, openly lesbian literary salon in [[Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan]], called ''[[Eve's Hangout]]''. It closed after Eva was convicted and jailed for obscenity and disorderly conduct, which resulted in her deportation to Poland in 1927. She was later arrested in France in 1943 and deported to the [[Auschwitz]] concentration camp on 17 December, where she was murdered two days later on 19 December.<ref name="atlas"/>
==Biography== [[File:Eve Adams Ad.png|thumb|Advertisement for Eve Adams' sales services published in ''[[Good Morning (magazine)|Good Morning]]'', featuring a drawing of her distinctive ("''You will know her by her hair''") haircut.]] Chawa Zloczower was apparently born on 27 June 1891 in Mława, Poland, although records differ as to her exact birth date.<ref name="Palmer 2021" /> She was the eldest of seven children of Mordechai and Miriam Zloczower.<ref name="Palmer 2021" /> She was remembered by her family as the oldest sister who was "the right hand" of their mother.<ref name="katz">{{Cite book|last=Katz|first=Jonathan Ned|title=The daring life and dangerous times of Eve Adams|date=2021|isbn=978-1-64160-517-5|location=Chicago|publisher=[[Chicago Review Press]]|oclc=1242879685}}</ref> She would later testify that she attended "primary school" in Mława and "graduated in [[Płock|Plotzk]]".<ref name="katz" /> She was able to speak seven languages.<ref name="Palmer 2021" />
At age 20, Eva emigrated to the United States through [[Ellis Island]], New York, on the S.S. Vaderland in 1912, sailing from Antwerp, Belgium.<ref name="Palmer 2021" /> She began using the English version of her name, Eve, and dressed in men's clothing.<ref name="Palmer 2021" /> She became involved in the anarchist movement, distributing publications, attending rallies and befriending anarchists from ''[[Mother Earth (magazine)|Mother Earth]]'' circles such as [[Emma Goldman]], [[Alexander Berkman]], [[Ben Reitman]] and [[Henry Miller]].<ref name="katz" /><ref name="Palmer 2021" />
On 21 February 1918, Eve, as "Eve Zlotchever," wrote a fervid fan letter to actress [[Fania Marinoff]], who starred in the free-love play, ''Karen''.<ref name="katz" /> Eve later became a cross-country traveling saleswoman of leftist periodicals, such as ''Mother Earth'' and ''[[The Liberator (magazine)|The Liberator]]''. By 1919, she was under surveillance by the "Radical Division" of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation#Creation of BOI|Bureau of Investigation]], run by [[J. Edgar Hoover]], because she was considered an "agitator".<ref name="Palmer 2021" /><ref name="katz" />
From 1921 to 1923, Eve settled in Chicago, where she continued to sell ''[[Der Groyser Kundes]]'' and offered Russian lessons. For about eight months she ran with her partner, Swedish painter [[Ruth Norlander]], a tea room named ''The Gray Cottage'' in [[Chicago]], at 10 E Chestnut St,<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Liberator|url=https://marxists.architexturez.net/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1922/06/v5n06-w51-jun-1922-liberator.pdf|last=|first=|date=June 1922|website=|page=34|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315222156/https://marxists.architexturez.net/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1922/06/v5n06-w51-jun-1922-liberator.pdf|archive-date=15 March 2023|access-date=|url-status=live}}</ref> a literary salon that also served as a "refuge for gay people," according to the ''[[New York Times]]''.<ref name="Palmer 2021"/> Norlander (born Ruth Olson in 1889) exhibited two paintings, including one called ''Nudes'' in 1922 Chicago "No-Jury Exhibit," perhaps portraying Eve, who used to pose for Norlander.<ref name="katz" />
In 1923, Eve returned to New York, and signed a declaration of intention to become a US citizen. In February 1925, she wrote and published in 150 copies "for private circulation only" of ''Lesbian Love'' (written under the name '''Evelyn Adams'''), a collection of short stories describing lives of women of the lesbian community.<ref name="Palmer 2021">{{cite news |last1=Palmer |first1=Emily |title=Overlooked No More: Eve Adams, Writer Who Gave Lesbians a Voice |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/obituaries/eve-adams-overlooked.html |access-date=4 July 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2 July 2021 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813065836/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/obituaries/eve-adams-overlooked.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 1925, she opened ''[[Eve's Hangout]]'', also known as ''Eve Addams' Tearoom'' in [[Greenwich Village]]. The only source that mentions a famous sign that allegedly read: "Men are admitted, but not welcome" is a 1926 article from ''Variety'', which accused Adams of being financed by "a ring of rich women cultists" and inviting "mannish" women preying on girls. This led to Adams' biographer [[Jonathan Ned Katz]] to claim that the sign "probably never existed".<ref name="katz" />
She was arrested by [[New York City]]'s Vice Squad for obscenity and disorderly conduct after undercover police detective Margaret Leonard entered ''Eve's Hangout'' and was shown ''Lesbian Love''.<ref name="Palmer 2021" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Eve Adams' Tearoom|url=https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/eve-addams-tearoom/|website=NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project|language=en-US|access-date=19 May 2020|archive-date=10 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110094939/http://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/eve-addams-tearoom/|url-status=live}}</ref> Leonard said Kotchever made overt sexual advances to her. After a year in jail, where she met [[Mae West]],<ref name="katz" /> at [[Jefferson Market Prison]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Imprisoned For Who She Was|url=http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/imprisoned-for-who-she-was/|last=Merwin|first=Ted|website=jewishweek.timesofisrael.com|date=24 December 2013|language=en-US|access-date=19 May 2020|archive-date=2 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302080453/https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/imprisoned-for-who-she-was/|url-status=live}}</ref> she was deported to Poland in December 1927.<ref name="Palmer 2021" /><ref name="nyclgbtsites">{{cite web|title=Eve Addams' Tearoom|url=https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/eve-addams-tearoom/|website=nyclgbtsites|accessdate=17 December 2017|archive-date=10 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110094939/http://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/eve-addams-tearoom/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Daytonian in Manhattan">{{cite web|title="Men Are Admitted, But Not Welcome" -- 129 MacDougal Street|url=http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.it/2010/08/men-are-admitted-but-not-welcome-129.html|website=Daytonian in Manhattan|date=2 August 2010|accessdate=17 December 2017|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222051204/http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.it/2010/08/men-are-admitted-but-not-welcome-129.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Eve lived in Warsaw, Gdańsk, and Sopot, writing to her friends in letters about the low wages and antisemitism in Poland. She regularly corresponded with [[Ben Reitman]], even after her exile to Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Hobo Doctor {{!}} Jewish Currents Archive|url=https://jewishcurrents.org/november-18-the-hobo-doctor|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1930 she moved to Paris, where she wrote "a group of prison stories" planned to be published in ''The New Review'' (the journal ceased publication before their scheduled date).<ref name="Palmer 2021" /><ref name="katz" /> In Paris, she made a living by selling "dirty" books (such as works by [[James Joyce]], [[Henry Miller]], [[Anaïs Nin]] and [[D. H. Lawrence]]) to American tourists.<ref name="katz" /> She met some of those artists ([[Henry Miller]], [[June Miller]], and [[Anaïs Nin]]),<ref name="atlas">{{Cite web|title=The Founder of America's Earliest Lesbian Bar Was Deported for Obscenity|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-was-first-gay-bar|last=Gattuso|first=Reina|date=3 September 2019|website=Atlas Obscura|language=en|access-date=19 May 2020|archive-date=5 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505212752/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-was-first-gay-bar|url-status=live}}</ref> all regulars of [[Le Dôme Café]], called ''Dômiers'', in the [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] neighborhood of [[Montparnasse]]. Meanwhile, in America exaggerated rumours about Eve Adams circulated,<ref name="katz" /> claiming that in [[Paris]], she ran a bookstore and a café named ''Le Boudoir de l'Amour'' in [[Montmartre]] (''Brevities'', 16 November 1931), and that she actively supported the [[Second Spanish Republic]], against the regime of General [[Francisco Franco]]. There is no factual evidence to those claims.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eve Adams: Chronology · EVE ADAMS CHRONOLOGY · OutHistory: It's About Time|url=https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/evechron/evechrono|access-date=8 June 2021|website=outhistory.org|archive-date=8 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608005139/https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/evechron/evechrono|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1933, Eve met and began a relationship with Jewish singer Hella Olstein Soldner (who performed under the stage name Nora/Norah Waren), and lived with her even after Hella married.<ref name="Palmer 2021" /> They intended to emigrate to Palestine and join Eve's brother, but lacked financial means to do so. Eve also pleaded with Ben Reitman to help her get a return permit to the US.<ref name="katz" /> In 1940, they moved to Southern France.<ref name="Palmer 2021" />
In December 1943, Eve and Hella were arrested in [[Nice]] and imprisoned in the [[Drancy internment camp]], near Paris,<ref name="Palmer 2021" /> with Zloczewer arriving there a few days before Olstein Soldner.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eve Adams: Corrections · EVE ADAMS: CORRECTIONS · OutHistory: It's About Time|url=https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/dldtc/eac|access-date=8 June 2021|website=outhistory.org|archive-date=8 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608005139/https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/dldtc/eac|url-status=dead}}</ref> They were deported by cattle car train to [[Auschwitz]] in the Convoy 63 on 17 December 1943, with about 850 other Jews, only 31 of whom survived until liberation in 1945, not including Eve or Hella.<ref name="Palmer 2021" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Shownotes: Eve's Tearoom Part 2|url=https://www.queerephemera.com/shownotes/s01e02|website=Queer Ephemera|language=en-US|access-date=|archive-date=17 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317221012/https://www.queerephemera.com/shownotes/s01e02|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Legacy== [[File:Plaque Rue Eva Kotchever - Paris XVIII (FR75) - 2021-06-02 - 1.jpg|thumb|Sign for Eva Kotchever street, Paris]] Barbara Kahn wrote three plays about Eve Adams, all given full productions at Theater for the New City. "The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams," "Unreachable Eden" and "Island Girls." An excerpt from "Unreachable Eden was presented at the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Barbara Kahn "Unreachable Eden" Eve Adams (Eva Kotchever) May 25 2014 - TNC|website=[[YouTube]]|date=8 October 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt24Ui1JE_0|accessdate=17 December 2017|archive-date=12 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412113701/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt24Ui1JE_0|url-status=live}}</ref> Kahn popularized the life of Eve Adams in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eve Adams in Paris|url=http://www.nytheatre-wire.com/ps12027t.htm|website=www.nytheatre-wire.com|access-date=|archive-date=1 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201152111/http://nytheatre-wire.com/ps12027t.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
A street in Paris, [[rue Eva Kotchever]], in the [[18th arrondissement of Paris]] is named after her, as well as a public school.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ecole élémentaire publique Eva Kotchever|url=https://www.education.gouv.fr/annuaire/75-paris/paris-18e-arrondissement/etab/ecole-elementaire-publique-eva-kotchever.html|website=www.education.gouv.fr|language=fr|access-date=|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129050918/https://www.education.gouv.fr/annuaire/75-paris/paris-18e-arrondissement/etab/ecole-elementaire-publique-eva-kotchever.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Kotchever is now considered,<ref>{{Cite web|title=17 LGBT landmarks of Greenwich Village|url=https://www.6sqft.com/17-lgbt-landmarks-of-greenwich-village/|website=6sqft|language=en-US|access-date=|archive-date=30 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430051254/https://www.6sqft.com/17-lgbt-landmarks-of-greenwich-village/|url-status=live}}</ref> especially in Europe, an LGBT icon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/it-happened-here-71|title=It happened here! {{!}} Things to Do {{!}} reviews, guides, things to do, film|website=Time Out New York|language=en|access-date=1 March 2020|archive-date=29 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229200659/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/it-happened-here-71|url-status=dead}}</ref> The City of New York<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/eve-addams-tearoom/|title=Eve Adams' Tearoom|website=NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project|language=en-US|access-date=|archive-date=10 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110094939/http://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/eve-addams-tearoom/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[National Park Service]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lgbtqheritage/upload/lgbtqtheme-newyork.pdf|last=|first=|date=2016|website=|publisher=National Park Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616113142/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lgbtqheritage/upload/lgbtqtheme-newyork.pdf|archive-date=16 June 2023|access-date=|url-status=dead}}</ref> tend to keep her memory alive.
In 1999, what is believed to be the only remaining copy of ''Lesbian Love'' was found by Nina Alvarez, then a student in Albany, New York.<ref name="Palmer 2021" />
In 2021, events in her memory organized by the city of Paris and the [[Mémorial de la Shoah]] were rescheduled due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in France]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Paris Mémorial de la Shoah|url=https://billetterie.memorialdelashoah.org/fr/evenement/eva-kotchever-1891-1943-fondatrice-dun-club-de-femmes-a-new-york|website=www.memorialdelashoah.org/en/|language=fr|access-date=|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415135907/https://billetterie.memorialdelashoah.org/fr/evenement/eva-kotchever-1891-1943-fondatrice-dun-club-de-femmes-a-new-york|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2021, American historian [[Jonathan Ned Katz]] published the first biography of Eve, named ''The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams'', featuring the original text and illustrations of rediscovered ''Lesbian Love''.<ref name="Palmer 2021" />
==See also== * [[LGBTQ culture in New York City]] * [[List of LGBTQ people from New York City]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{Portal bar|Judaism|Feminism|Poland|LGBTQ|New York}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotchever, Eva}} [[Category:1891 births]] [[Category:1943 deaths]] [[Category:Lesbian Jews]] [[Category:Jewish Polish feminists]] [[Category:Jewish Polish artists]] [[Category:Polish painters]] [[Category:Polish people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp]] [[Category:Polish LGBTQ novelists]] [[Category:Polish lesbian artists]] [[Category:Polish lesbian writers]] [[Category:Lesbian novelists]] [[Category:Polish feminists]] [[Category:People prosecuted under anti-homosexuality laws]] [[Category:People deported from the United States]] [[Category:20th-century Polish LGBTQ people]] [[Category:Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust]] [[Category:Polish women in World War II]]