This biography of the concentration camp experience by Pierre Seel has been a useful adjunct to the book 'The Men With The Pink Triangle'. The section of the book I have found most useful is where Seel details life after the camps where the treatment of homosexuals in his native France was still a matter of living in secrecy for many. Seel details the anguish he undergoes as he cannot explain to his family why he has never applied for reparations for his incarceration by the Nazis; The reason being that homosexuals were not eligible. Discovering this fact during my research and being aware of how this impacted on their daily lives has been illuminating. The degree to which homosexuals affected by the Nazis were still being punished after the liberation is appalling. Seel also details the gradual rise of gay liberation and attempts to set their own historical narrative during the early 1970s. Sadly, Seel laments that this change in fortunes will improve the lives of younger men but he feels separated from these changes; The internal homophobia and pain inflicted upon gay men by others was sadly carried with them through their entire lives.
Seel does eventually move himself to speak and with growing confidence 'Outs' himself; his biography is the result; it is forthright and confirms a number of similar experiences that occur to Heinz Heger in the 'Pink Triangle' book. Seel also begins to fight for reparations although the French authorities, for whatever reason, appear to be obstructive to say the least. Finally Seel details the disgusting treatment of gay groups that attempt to take part in the official memorials to the deported mainly during the 1980s and 1990s.
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