Mickey Mouse figurine in a handmade frame

Box containing small Mickey Mouse figure framed by an artificial flower garland that belonged to Pierre Seel, who at age 18 was arrested on May 3, 1941, in Mulhouse in German occupied France for homosexuality. His mother created the boxed setting with the toy as a memorial device to remember and protect her son. The flower garland was originally part of her wedding veil. Pierre was brutally tortured for 10 days by the Gestapo and then sent to Schirmeck-Vorbruck, a re-education camp near Natzwiller Struthof concentration camp in Alsace. The torture and abuse continued and he was a forced laborer on construction projects. After 6 months, Pierre was released and conscripted into the German Army. He fought on the Eastern front in the Soviet Union and was wounded in combat in Yugoslavia. After the war ended in May 1945, he returned to Mulhouse.