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Pierre Seel’s mother made this small memento out of a toy and her wedding veil while her son was imprisoned. In 1941, Pierre was arrested, tortured, and sent to a concentration camp in Alsace, France, for being a gay man. 1/5 
His six-month imprisonment in the Schirmeck-Vorbrüch camp was one of hunger, hard labor, and brutal beatings. On one occasion, he was forced to watch as the SS used their dogs to kill Jo, his teenage sweetheart. 2/5
For the rest of Pierre’s life, he carried physical and emotional wounds that never healed. After he returned home, the only person in his family who was willing to hear about his time in the camp was his mother. 3/5
His mother died when Pierre was 25. For the next three decades, Pierre told no one else about the horrors he had suffered under the Nazis. He married a woman and had children, then divorced. He drank heavily. 4/5
Pierre finally came forward and started speaking publicly in the 1980s, then became an activist. He penned a memoir in 1994. The book is dedicated to Jo. He wrote, “after decades of silence I have made up my mind to speak, to accuse, to bear witness.” 5/5 #PrideMonth #LGBTHistory
