Deported Homosexual, By Pierre Seel

Deported Homosexual In September of 1939 one of the greatest wars the world has ever seen began because of the German Reich and their leader Adolf Hitler. During the war many Europeans were imprisoned in concentration camps, most notably those of the Jewish religion. What history seems to forget is that another group of people who were greatly affected by world war two and the Nazis power were none other than the homosexual men of Europe. The story of one gay man, Pierre Seel is displayed in his memoir, “I, Pierre Seel Deported Homosexual”, where he describes the particular dynamics of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals and their post war legacy. In the six months that Pierre was a prisoner of the Schirmeck Concentration camp he witnessed many atrocities that were performed upon the inmates, …show more content…
In his immediate family he feels shame placed upon him from his father and brothers due to his sexuality tarnishing their good family name. His family decides not to talk about the subject of his homosexuality and instead pretend as if his internment didn’t happen. His extended relatives make him the butt of humiliating jokes and his godfather eventually disinherits him because of his sexuality. Later on in his life Pierre took a wife, and they had three children, two sons and a daughter. Pierre grew very distant to his wife because of his confusion about his sexuality as his inability to tell her about it. He also felt very distant from his sons who he feared being close to in fear that it would be construed in the wrong way because of his homosexuality. It eventually lead to the divorce of his wife and himself and the distancing of himself from his children. This blatant negativity towards homosexuals, Pierre in particular is just some of the aftermath of the Nazi’s influence in postwar