Today's Out Spotlight was deported for being gay from France to a German
concentration camp during World War II. He is known for speaking out
about his Holocaust experience.
Pierre Seel was born on August 16, 1923. to an affluent Catholic family in northern France, near
the German border. In 1939, while in a public garden known for gay
cruising, his pocket was picked. Seel reported the theft to police and
was placed on a list of homosexuals, even though being gay was legal.
In 1941, during the German occupation, he was deported along with
other French gays to the Schirmeck-Vorbruck concentration camp where he was
tortured, starved and raped. He witnessed his boyfriend mauled to death
by German Shepherds. On his prison uniform, Seel was required to wear
blue fabric that denoted clergymen, prostitutes and homosexuals.
After six months, Seel was removed from the camp and forced to enlist
in the German army. After four years, he deserted and surrendered to
the Allies, who returned him to France. Unlike others, gays did not
receive compensation or acknowledgment from France for their
concentration camp hardship.
In 1950, he entered into a marriage of convenience and never told
his wife of 28 years that he was gay. They had three children.
In 1982, Seel responded to Bishop Leon Elchinger’s anti-gay remarks
in a letter published in a French gay magazine. He advocated for France
to honor gays persecuted by Nazis. In 1994, his memoir “I, Pierre Seel,
Deported Homosexual” was published. His story was featured in the
documentary “Paragraph 175”. In 2003, he received recognition as a
victim of the Holocaust by the International Organization for
Migration.
The film A Love to Hide is loosely based on his life.
Seel spent his last 12 years with his partner, Eric Feliu before passing away on November 25, 2005.
“I became aware that in spite of all that I had imagined, the true liberation was for other people.”
