Hitler's Black Victims: The Historical Experience of Afro-Germans, European Blacks, Africans and African Americans in the Nazi Era by Clarence Lusane
Summary: Of the book Hitler's Black Victims: The historical experiences of blacks in Nazi Germany By Clarence Lusane, Ph.D. The presence and experiences of people of African descent in Nazi Germany and the occupied lands has generally been dismissed as insignificant if acknowledged at all. In fact, their lived experiences were extremely varied and touched every aspect of the Nazi phenomena. The purpose of the study, "Hitler's Black Victims," is to document and analyse that history in all of its complications and implications. This study not only chronicles what happened but also locates that history in the broader context of the global struggle against racism. The Nazis gave significant attention to their black "problem," and to dismiss the anti-blackness character of Nazism and the subjugation of its black victims is a historical whitewashing. The relentless goal of Hitler's National Socialist Workers Party was to create a racial state that was built on the fantasy of breeding "pure" Aryans while eliminating all others including Blacks. Yet, the Nazis never reached agreement on whether to murder all Blacks and how. This study is a multi-purpose effort to examine the nature and significance of "blackness" and "anti-blackness" in Germany and the occupied lands in the periods preceding and constituting the Nazi era. First, it expands our understanding of the Nazism and all the peoples that were its victims. In the literally thousands of books on the period, Afro-Germans and other Blacks, and their experiences are notable only for their absence. In a similar vein, the wide number of museums dedicated to remembering the Holocaust and the horrors of Nazism also give little exposure, if any, to the black experience. Second, this study demonstrates that Nazism's racial agenda was complex, fluid, and contradictory as opposed to simple, straightforward, and unproblematic. A perpetual debate in Nazi ruling circles over how to address Germany's black presence extended the entire dozen years of Nazi rule and was never fully resolved. A third purpose is to deepen our knowledge of the experiences of the African Diaspora. It was not Blacks from Europe who suffered at the hands of the Nazis, but also from the North America, the Caribbean, Africa and Latin America. Too often, these encounters of people of African descent are often forgotten. Fourth, this study advocates the need to reconceptualize our framework on racism and see it as contingent and intersecting. The contingent nature of racism tells us that during Hitler's rule local preogatives, in some cases, overrode national and general racial orders. This can be viewed in the experiences of many Afro-Germans, who often lived isolated lives, where their individualized status allowed some of them a degree of protection that, in many instances, was enough for their survival. The study is divided into four parts. In part one, the focus is on a number of the theoretical concerns that are raised by exploring this relatively uncharted land. The purpose here is to examine the distinctiveness of the racialization process as it unfolded in Germany in relation to those of African descent. Part two looks at the history of contact between the new German nation and people of African descent both in Africa and in Germany prior to Hitler coming to power. This includes reviewing German colonialism, and the European-wide discourse and controversy that arose after World War I regarding the placement of black troops in occupied Germany and the children they left behind. It also presents the unknown political efforts by Blacks to resist rising racism and growing Nazi attacks on working class organizers. Part three examines in detail the lived experiences of Blacks under Nazism including : • the policies expressed by Adolph Hitler and other Nazi leaders on the question of Blacks in Germany; • the Nazi sterilization of Blacks including the ideological, political, and organizational links between eugenicists in Germany and the United States from around the turn of the century through the mid-1940s; • the experiences of Blacks in the many different types of imprisonment camps - internment, labour, prison, concentration, and extermination - created by the Nazis as well as reports of black massacres by German soldiers and civilians; • the use of black performers by Nazi propagandists in their films and other entertainment form; • the Nazi failed but energetic effort at eliminating jazz, which was viewed as both black and Jewish making it totally unacceptable for mass consumption; • the impact of black sports figures, such as Joe Louis and African American Olympic athletes, on the racial views of Blacks and Whites in both Germany and the US; • the military and non-military means by which Blacks fought Nazi racism including their participation in the formal resistance movements as well as individualized forms of defiance. Finally, part four examines the contemporary nature of racism in Europe, in general, and, in Germany, in particular. This sector reviews the status and state of people of African descent in today's Germany, a presence that may number up to 500,000. As the 2000 UN World Conference Against Racism, attacks on immigrants, and rising Islamophobia deomonstrate, racism remains a global problem. It can only be erased, as many have concluded, by progressive and constructive polices that improve lives and change attitudes. In part, this includes a new and inclusive understanding of history and its legacy on our time. "Hitler's Black Victims" is an effort to contribute to this cause.
Editorial Reviews
Review Clarence Lusane is an excellent and prolific writer and a brilliant thinker. In Hitler's Black Victims, he turns his laser-like intelligence on yet another timely topic: the experience of the Black people in Nazi Germany. Neither Black history, nor European history, will be the same again. –Gerald Horne, author of From the Barrel of a Gun
In its attention to almost the full span of the black history in Germany [Lusane's] book comprises the most inclusive study of the black experience to date, bringing together materials hitherto only available in far less accessible publications. –Humanities and Social Sciences Online
Product Description This unique study analyzes and documents the Nazi's racial policies towards people of African descent, specifically those born in Germany, England, France, the United States, and Africa, and the impact of that legacy on contemporary race relations in Germany.
First memorial to black victims of Nazi genocide • Michael Leidig in Vienna • The Observer, • Sunday September 16 2007 • Article history In the vast, agonising mosaic of the Holocaust, Mahjub bin Adam Mohamed was simply one more piece, one of millions of the Nazis' victims lost to obscurity without a funeral or a grave. Now bin Adam is to make history in Germany by becoming the first black person to be given a memorial in his adopted country as an individual victim of the genocide of the Third Reich. A Stolperstein - a bronze 'stumbling block' - will be erected on the ground outside the house in Berlin where he lived.
Does it speak about what the US Nazis did to Joe Louis as appreciation for his valiant effort against Nazism? They bankrupted him and he died penniless after begging for dollars at Caesars in Vegas.
Does it speak about the Nazi/Zionist eugenicists the US brought to the US following the war to continue their sterilization and germ warfare research against blacks?
Does it discuss how the Zionists and US walked out of the 2000 UN World Conference Against Racism, and how they have aggressively worked to overturn the next 2009 conference? Do a google (I use Yahoo) search on "UN World Conference Against Racism" and see how many Zionist propaganda sites pop up attempting to poison the conference.
The Nazis are alive and well, except now, they are international.
Black History ______
Italy invades Africa
by Thomas C. Fleming, Apr 14, 1999
In the 1930s, I was part of the "drugstore cabinet," a group of young black men who gathered at Montgomery's Pharmacy in Berkeley, California, where Byron Rumford worked every evening, after completing his hours as a pharmacist at Highland Hospital. I had known Byron since he was a student. In 1948 he would be elected to the state Assembly, becoming the first black person in Northern California to be elected to statewide office.
A black man named Montgomery, from Washington, DC, came to Berkeley and opened up the city's first pharmacy owned and operated by a black. A lot of guys who were going to college would stop by to see Byron. He closed the doors at 10 o'clock every night, so we'd come in there late in the evening, and hang out in the back of the store. Mostly we'd talk about racism.
In 1935, like other black Americans, we reacted to the invasion of Ethiopia, one of the two independent black-ruled states in Africa; Liberia was the other. Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator, defied the League of Nations when, in his concept of an imperial Italy, he decided that Ethiopia was ripe for plucking, and declared war against that African nation.
The League ordered him to desist, but it had no armed forces, and Mussolini paid no heed. The League issued sanctions and trade embargoes, but these harmed only Ethiopia, not Italy. Both Britain and France maintained Mediterranean fleets, but neither made the slightest attempt to intervene with the passage of the Italian troop-carrying armada. Some countries, including League members, sold Italy oil and other needed supplies.
I think opposition to the war was universal among blacks throughout the United States. The white press was yelling for sanctions also.
The Italian army had a difficult time, despite the awesome arsenal they brought with them, which included tanks, heavy artillery and their air force. Despite the preponderance of armed might, the only way Italy won was to use poison gas against the valiant Ethiopians. It was a black nation, so who was going to say anything?
Thus the Italians got revenge for their defeat by the Ethiopian army in 1896, when Italy had attempted to enlarge its African holdings. At the battle of Adowa, using old guns they didn't know would operate, and a lot of spears, the primitive, ill-armed Ethiopians had humiliated a modern European army. In their childlike manner, they had castrated all prisoners captured in the battle. Their philosophy was: when they went back home to Italy, they couldn't become fathers of sons who might return to seek vengeance.
When Mussolini started his invasion, one of the flashiest blacks of the 1930s, Colonel Hubert Fauntleroy Julian, appeared in Harlem and identified himself as an aviator, which made good copy in the black press. Julian, we learned, was a native of the Caribbean who had migrated to the U.S. and settled in New York City. How he became a colonel, and what armed forces he had served, was never made clear.
Colonel Hubert Fauntleroy Julian, the first black person to obtain a pilot's license. Tall, athletic and handsome, he was dubbed "the Lindbergh of his race." Despite constant struggles to raise financial backing for his exploits, he had a brilliant and widely publicized flying career. In 1964 he published his autobiography, "The Black Eagle." He crisscrossed the nation, where he rented a plane and advertised that he would fly over airports in exhibitions to a paying audience. He never came to Northern California, but did fly in Los Angeles. He was an adventurer who was trying to hustle a dollar, any way he could.
The Ethiopian Air Force was composed of one non-combat type plane. The colonel announced that he was going there to offer his services to Emperor Haile Selassie. He did go, and flew the plane one time. That one time, the plane crashed. The colonel survived and came back to Harlem, where the last I heard, he had persuaded a wealthy white woman to finance some other adventures.
In Europe, the next move of the fascist hordes came in 1936 when Francisco Franco, who had been brooding in Morocco for years, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, bringing African troops with him, to overthrow the Republican government of Spain. Italy, Germany and other fascist states openly supported the Spanish rebels with arms, men and money, while the Soviet Union provided warplanes and munitions, but not men. France and Great Britain stood by, but France did test some of its warplanes in the contest.
Many Americans, including some blacks, left the U.S. for Spain, where they formed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight the fascists. They didn't segregate them over there; this wasn't the United States Army. I was hoping they would get Franco and cut his throat. I knew one man from the San Francisco Bay Area who joined, Don Thayer. He was white.
It was considered illegal to go, but I don't think the U.S. government tried to bother those who went. Of course, J. Edgar Hoover called all of them Communists. Paul Robeson was one big name, along with Ernest Hemingway, who participated in some manner. Robeson went over and sang to the troops out in the trenches.
Spain owned some parts of Morocco, and the Moroccan troops were part of the Spanish army. Morocco is an Arab country, so the Africans who fought on the side of the fascists weren't necessity black Africans. But you have black fascists, just like you have black liberals.
Just found out you responded to this thread. Thank you! Yesterday I saw Hart's War with Vicellous Reon Shannon, Terrence Howard, Bruce Willis and Colin Farell. It touches on the stuff you posted. Great movie. I wrote in my diary that racism is so wasteful of time, effort and human resource. Then I'm also looking at how some of you on ES are making collages to insult each other, as if these persons do not understand the seriousness of the situation, and are just wasting time.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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Read your postings. I have read parts of Hitler’s Black Victims, which covers a great area, concentrating on 1500-1789. I remember something about US scientist teaching/reinforcing Nazi Germany about the art of Eugenics and genocide.
Keep these pieces coming!
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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I am sad and hurt inside because my children have been taken away from me, for no truthful reason at all. Is this supposed to be America? I think not, not anymore! Our own American people are causing grief in American people’s homes, by ripping nursing babies out of their mother’s arms. It happened to brothers and sisters of mine at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. These people were born in America. There are many evil organizations, I must say, that sold their soul to the Devil, such as the DHS, FBI, and the CID and many others.
My three beautiful healthy children, Alsandria 17, Alphonso 16, and Charity 10, were ripped out of a good Christian environment where there is no abuse, no drugs, no guns, no raping, no stealing, no robbing, no pornography, and no liars.
Millions of the American people will never see the Kingdom of Heaven. My children came from a very good environment; they have Christian friends, which will not steal from them and will not lie to them, as is being done to them now that they’re in foster homes. They have never experienced anything like this before. Many public schools today are teaching children that it is alright to be a lesbian or a homosexual and every bad, demonic thing that God hates. There are many churches in the world that condone this sort of behavior and have no backbone at all. God says the fearful and unbelieving will have their part in the lake of fire. (Revelations 21:8.) God is going to rain down fire from Heaven on this earth very soon, because the people in this world are so wicked.
My children are in foster care and every time I go to visit them they say, “Daddy I want to come home; it is where we belong!” One of my children stated she wanted to take her life because she has a broken heart because they took her away from the place and family she loves. She knows she would go to Hell if she did. My children now have broken hearts and are miserable.
Many weak people want to receive these lies against God, our pastor, and us, because they have sin-loving hearts. There will be so many people in Hell, especially “church people.” They are the false prophets.
The DHS needs to let my children and all the other children come back to be with their parents where they belong. The Bible says, “Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm” (Psa. 105:15). These evil people need to repent if they are still able to.
Some of these people in this surrounding area think that you’re a monster, pastor. A monster wouldn’t be preaching the Bible like you do. I know God called you (Tony Alamo), I know you aren’t just serving God because one day you just felt like it. God threatened you in the office that day. We are just serving the Lord Jesus Christ 100%, which most of the churches in the world wouldn’t do that. This is the reason for so many gangs, killings, etc… because they don’t discipline their children. We do. We are not like the people in these courtrooms. We are supposed to be true Americans. People are fearful in America because there is no more freedom. People are fearful to make a stand right here in America. Many children are prostitutes, homosexuals, lesbians, murderers, and many other horrible things. This is because parents are afraid to discipline their children, as the Bibles commands us to.
When these children were in the ministry and under the protection of their parents, they were very well cared for. They had food, clothes, hygiene, medicine, and all the necessities of life. My nineteen-year-old daughter and I had to plead with the DHS to have someone please fix my ten year old daughter’s hair properly and make sure her hygiene was kept up on regular basis, like we did, because it looks like she is being neglected by her foster parents.
These people know these kids weren’t neglected and not abused in any way! They need to be with their parents and families that love them. Someone in the DHS needs to stand up for what is right, because they are dead wrong! How can they look at their wretched selves in the morning knowing what they’ve done to people’s families? I heard some of the DHS workers are having nightmares, because they know what they’re doing is wrong.
I know God is going to destroy many people for what they’ve done to God and the people of God.
Send the children back to their parents where they belong! I love my children more than the DHS workers, the judges, and attorneys love their children because I protect them from all the pornography, sex, violence, drugs and all the filth in this evil world today. This is NOT the America it used to be!
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Before Hitler's time the Germans already had a dry run exterminating Africans in Namibia. The Herero people just wanted to defend their lands and cattle and the colonising Germans in a mad rage exterminated 70% of them.
One of their favourite techniques was to bury the Herero up to their necks in sand then to check back ever so often to see how they were doing.
So Hitler already had a playbook to learn from.
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