Today is #WorldAIDSDay2020. Many excellent books of queer studies & history discuss this pandemic, never more timely. Here are some of them, focusing on the US and Germany. For a critical reading of Shilts, see also McKay‘s great book I reviewed here: https://usso.uk/patient-zero-and-the-making-of-the-aids-epidemic-by-richard-a-mckay/

One of the books here specifically hightlights the AIDS Quilt - as I‘ve been particularly interested in queer public memory, I also want to use today to highlight some of the memorials dedicated to the victims of AIDS I have seen around the world in a thread. #WorldAIDSDay2020 /1

In my own hometown of Munich, Germany, the AIDS Säule (column) stands in the city center on Sendlinger Tor Platz, often going unnoticed by passers-by. Dedicated in 2002, it‘s styled like the columns in the underground station below, symbolizing an unearthing of the unseen.

In Berlin, an AIDS memorial can be found in gay quarter Schöneberg since 2010.

In Frankfurt am Main, an AIDS Memorial is part of the Peterkirchshof cemetery - a nail is hammered into the wall every December 1.

In the US, San Francisco is home to the National AIDS Memorial Grove, a beautiful part of Golden Gate Park. Check out their website: https://www.aidsmemorial.org/grove 

In New Orleans, an AIDS Memorial was dedicated in 2010 - one of the most beautiful I have seen and still sadly a very hidden tribute.

New York City finally added their memorial site in Greenwhich Village in 2016 - find out more on the activism behind it and its design here: https://www.nycaidsmemorial.org/about 

In Key West, Florida, the memorial is right at the beach - the Keys were one of the communities hardest hit by the pandemic in the 1980s and 1990s: https://keywestaids.org/about/ 

Those are just some examples around the globe. What I want to highlight is that all of these only exist because of the tireless efforts of activists. Other cities still have ongoing campaigns to realize their own memorial sites, such as West Hollywood: https://aidsmonument.org/