apparently there were black people in germany back in the old days. http://www.annefrankguide.net/en-us/bronnenbank.asp?oid=15973 it reads "Around 5,000 Black people, mainly men, lived in Germany in 1933. Most of them came from German colonies in Africa. Some were married to German women and had children with them." this settles it. I'm going over to germany. no excuses!
And many French soldiers who were stationed in Germany after the World War 2 were from the african territories.
thanks for the info. when we can understand the history behind a culture - it explains everything. because of the way the the USA was built up and we look at history, it explains why we have racial tensions the way we do here at times. times are changing. but some things will NEVER change. Slavery and everything that happened before, during and after it really explain so many things. a friend of mine just returned from germany and he was amazed at all the love and repsect he gets there, from men, women and children in comparison to here as BM. the grass is sometimes greener on the other side.
A fantastic and compelling read "Destined to Witness - Growing up Black in Nazi Germany" http://www.amazon.com/Destined-Witness-Growing-Black-Germany/dp/0060959614 You will not be able to put it down, a fascinating first hand account of a son of an African diplomat and a German mother living through the rise and fall of the 3rd reich.
yeah. this is interesting. One amazon reviewer says " racism in Germany in the Hitler era but about British and French colonial racism in Africa and racism in the United States in the South and in Chicago after the war." wow this guy has been thru alot. lots of people caught pure hell, but i guess being black added to the turmoil. oh well, glad that germany has completely reinvented itself and is a great place for a BM in 2010 and beyond. I expect to be living there by the time I'm 40. infact there is a german film, i plan on downloading based on the life of this man. its called "Neger Neger Schornsteinfeger" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464129/ its a great story as a film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgTtzOQWUr0 it has some heart, it deals with a mixed race young boy in germany, it has interacial romance element to it, a family, war, nazi germany, it has a boxing element to it too. great movie but its in german. do does this make this gentleman a afro-German? is that a correct term?
if anybody is interested this is where you can download it. megaupload is the fastest way. http://mov-world.net/kinofilme/drama/neger-neger-schornsteinfeger-79957.html
In a past thread I mentioned a painting at the Deutsches Historical Museum of Gustav el Cher and his girlfriend Gertrud Perlig. Also, I mentioned other blacks in Germany like Martin Diobobe and Wilhelm Sambo.
Sarah,the French colonial soldiers who invaded the Rhine Valley in 1923 fathered a lot of children. Hitler sterilized most of them in 1937.
This film "Neger Neger Schornsteinfeger" is such a good film. Even though its in german and i don't have subtitle files for it, i can understand the whole feel of the film. its a very powerful film. Also there is a interacial - multi cultural love - family aspect of it that makes it very appealing to me and to all of us here. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgyfg_neger-neger-schornsteinfeger_shortfilms its a very touching film. but i must warn you its in german. and there are no english srt sub files available for this film on the net yet. all of us should download it and look at it.
This film "Neger Neger Schornsteinfeger" is such a good film. Even though its in german and i don't have subtitle files for it, i can understand the whole feel of the film. its a very powerful film. Also there is a interacial - multi cultural love - family aspect of it that makes it very appealing to me and to all of us here. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgyfg_neger-neger-schornsteinfeger_shortfilms its a very touching film. but i must warn you its in german. and there are no english srt sub files available for this film on the net yet. all of us should download it and look at it.
Germany of Today. Being black in Germany. http://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2009/03/being-black-in-germany.html Have some more questions about Germany of Today vs. The Old Germany. clearly things are different than they were 80 years ago. Heck thigns are different than they were 30 years ago even. its 2010 now. Hans Massaquoi (he is 84 now) in his book and the german tv film he talks about his life and how he grew up in germany around the time that hitler took over. But he still went thru hell as a kid a times. http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0003/black_nazi.html http://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2010/06/afrogerman-week-hans-j-massaquoi.html one article says my impression of german people is that there has always been a population of them that have always been interested in diverse things. take for example the film "Swing Kids" The film "Swing Kids" starring Christian Bale from the 90's is a good example. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Kids_(film) It was about a group of jazz and Swing lovers in Germany of the 1930s, mainly in Hamburg who have to deal with the takeover of by the Nazi party before the second wolrd war. Its a fun happy dance movie but its also a sad historic piece too. if you would like to see it clips. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62dy01f9tCk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COJH-cPJ2so&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztNAfctZL0E&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHcBYGN-3uM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxsHcslu2D8&feature=related My only criticisim of the film is the actors speak in english and have american accents so it takes away from the idea that they are german people who like what is considered black american jazz music and black american jazz dance styles. I recently saw a romance german film called "Im Juli" The lead actress Chistiane Paul wears her hair braided. And lets just say that here in the States people would LOOSE THEIR MINDS over seeing a WW with her hair braided in a romance film. both white people and black people would go "crazy". i can see the headlines and the news commentary now. "First we have a black president now White women are wearing dreads locks, when does it stop!" but i see now that a WW with ugly dreads or even nice clean neat looking braids is a fun hair style that young ladies wear for fun at times in germany and other euro countries. I also see that Rap Music and Breakdancing is popular in germany among the 18-35 age range of people. so someone please educate me if they can.
this video clip here does help alittle. it talks about being black in germany http://forum-network.org/lecture/being-black-germany
Yes of course - just like many handicapped Germans too at this time! But I just wishe dto make the point that German women were interested in black men - even when thses men were an occupying French army.
Yes of course he did - just like many "handicapped" German citizens ! I just wished to make the point that many German women in the Rhineland/Saarland were with BM, even though they were part of an occupying army.
This gentleman here gives a good history about black people (afro-germans) in Germany and it history and how it has evolved into a multi-cultural societyy that it is today. you must view his presentation. Even though the Nazi & Hitler are apart of Germany's history - there i so much more there to their culture. sure there is racism everywhere. but there is a good reason why BM and black people in general are so very welcome over there. http://forum-network.org/lecture/being-black-germany vs. here in the states we had slavery and everything that occured before, during and after it. explains why we have problems like this. http://www.popmodal.com/video/4460/Ann-Coulter-vs-Al-Sharpton-Rematch-Debate-on-Reid-and-Racists http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxwHyzHs7Ww http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GpAafmhBHQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4RRBB9K_9Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTEjiFEaIy8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY04gIruZ4E
Bhayes,good info. Had you read his second book? I purchased it when I was in Germany two years ago. I saw most of Part One of his first book on TV and got the DVD. My German friend saw it because she has a region free DVD player.
We must constantly remind ourselves that history is written by the side that won the war. Most of what we know about WWII in general and the German people in particular is pure heyena shit. Hitler was bank-rolled by the same financial institutions that pull the puppet strings for those Presidents ya'll love so much. Uncle Sam and the Nazis were financed by Wall Street. Prescot Bush(GW's Grandfather) was Hitler's personal banker. Millions died in WWII so the banks could make money loaning money(at interest) to both sides. "The debtor is slave to the lender" applies to Nations as well as Individuals. War is a primordial excuse to loot the treasury..
now that was deep! You went to the bottom of the ocean on that wone. but here is a documentary about afro-germans of today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddtdP8Ye1LU its very fascinating. Germany is now the place. 1st Germany. then France. BM we have nothing to loose and all to gain. we just have to go in the right way. http://blackgermans.us/new/