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10 Important LGBTQ+ Figures From History You Should Definitely Know About!

Written by Devon Forward. Published: October 22 2019

 

5. Pierre Seel

 

Seel, born in 1923, is an important part of history because of his bravery to be who he is and to speak out against hatred and the cruelties committed during World War II. He is a Holocaust survivor and the only French person to openly testify about his deportation and treatment due to his sexuality. 

 

Seel was a young man when the Germans invaded France. In 1939, he was arrested for suspicion of being homosexual and in 1941 was transferred to the Schirmeck-Vorbruck camp. There, his prison uniform was marked with a blue bar, not the pink triangle most people recognize, which they didn’t use at that camp. The blue bar marked Catholics and “a-social” prisoners. He has talked about his horrific treatment both from the people imprisoning him and his fellow prisoners, and how he had to witness his lover, Jo, being executed.

 

In November of 1941, abruptly he was released and made a German citizen. They then forced him into their armed forces. What followed was a huge period of being moved around and attacked, barely surviving. At one point, he was being threatened with execution by Soviet troops and only survived by stepping in front of the firing squad and singing “The Internationale”, a left-wing anthem. 

 

After the war, he tried his best to live a manageable life, helping others while having to hide his homosexuality. In 1982, following an anonymous testimony, Seel pushed back against the anti-gay sentiments and made a public testimony about his treatment during the war and after. He continued to speak out and support other victims, particularly with the the Mémorial de la Déportation Homosexuelle, a national organization created to honor the memory of citizens deported during the war because of their sexuality. 

 

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