Peter Flinsch (1920 - 2010)

Born in 1920, Flinsch was just 17 when Hitler began World War II. On the strength of his educational background he was assigned to the Luftwaffe (air force) officer training program. Early in his training he was tried by a military tribunal in Berlin for "Attempt of contravention against Paragraf 174a (attempt to commit a homosexual act). He was sentenced to loss of rank, imprisonment, and finally to a punishment batallion, minefield sweeping. Men in such punishment units, which always included homosexuals, were not expected to live. Flinsch survived. He eventually emigrated to Canada where he lives in Montreal. His work has been seen in galleries and publications in Canada, the U.S., and Europe including the famous German satirical magazine Simplizissimus. In 2006 Flinsch received the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation's first Lifetime Achievment Award.

He died of a heart attack just three weeks before his 90th birthday at his home in Montreal, Canada.