Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Pierre Seel: Gay Holocaust Survivor

b Aug 16th 1923
d Nov 25th 2005


Andrew Belonsky at Queer Sighted says this of Seel:
Seel may actually be one of the most well-known people on this intentionally obscure list. Or maybe he's the one whose sexuality matters most: the French Catholic found himself carted off to a concentration camp after reporting a watch stolen from a well-known gay cruising grounds. 

While there, he was not only starved, beaten and sexually abused; he also had to watch as his lover was torn asunder by dogs. The Germans later blackmailed him into joining the Gestapo and sent him into the killing fields. He survived, returned home, married and tried to the past behind him, thanks in large part to drugs and alcohol.It wasn't until the early 1980s that he began telling his story, becoming the first, and only, French national to speak out about anti-gay Nazi persecution. His tale has been collected in I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual. It's not for the faint of heart.


Even just the  entry at Wikipedia is heavy going, but it does offer some insight into the nature of the gay holocaust.

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