may 2, 1941 - Gestapo try to arrest Pierre Seel

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Pierre Seel was born on 16 August 1923 in Mulhouse, Alsace, France. He was the youngest of five sons and his parents ran a patisserie in the town. Alsace is a region in France very close to the German border. The region had been fought over by the two countries more than once and had been considered the property of both. It is a strong Catholic area and the Seel family were regular church followers.
From an early age Pierre Seel knew that he was gay but he also knew he needed to keep it secret from his religious family. Homosexuality was not illegal in France at that time, but was considered ‘a sin’ by many people, especially those with strong religious leanings. At the age of seventeen he hung out in the town square to meet men and on one of those occasions he had his watch stolen. He decided to report the theft even though he knew it meant that he risked his family finding out where he had been. The policeman who took his statement decided to threaten Pierre, verbally attacking him for being gay. It was a humiliating experience but worse still the policeman added Pierre’s name to a police list of ‘known homosexuals’.
The Nazi Party of Germany and its leader Adolf Hitler had been threatening the countries of Europe for years during the 1930s and had invaded Poland in 1939. France, along with Britain, had declared war on Germany in response, but there was little fighting in Western Europe to begin with. In 1940 Germany attacked France.
Pierre’s brothers had left with the French declaration of war, but he was too young. Instead he continued with his studies and fell in love with a young man called Jo. Pierre also became involved with some minor resistance work, such as agreeing to carry messages. On 2 May 1941 on his return home from studies, Pierre’s mother told him that the Gestapo (Nazi Secret Police) had called in and ordered that he report to them the next morning.

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