yes you did! I have more to add and some may find this interesting or maybe even funny. They briefed us on life in Germany in terms of culture and customs “Dos and Don’ts”. But for the Black GIs we were warned about identity theft. African immigrants were stealing identities of black soldiers and one of the reasons was to trick German Women to marry them so they can stay in country.
Don’t know if they steal the identity of black soldier but they definitely try to find a German woman to marry them. In fact, it’s almost assumed that an African man marrying a ww doesn’t have papers. Some do still love the woman and stay with her, some divorce as soon as their permanent residency comes out. Have a friend who used to travel all the way from Munich to Nürnberg to hang out in those clubs American soldiers would visit.
I can only tell you what they told us. However, things may have changed. Interesting you mention that because I noticed a lot of Africans mimicking Black Americans in terms of style and dress. I can.
I think this is the belief n many European countries now. People assume that all African men marry European to obtain residency. I know many women have had this experience with non European men. Also you will be often introduced to African men just for this situation.
Well yeah...obviously that is not true in every situation...some don’t have papers but genuinely love a European woman and intend to stay together, some do have papers and marry a European woman (I still think that’s a tiny minority of Africans in Germany), but we all know those who marry for papers and divorce ASAP when they get papers aren’t a myth, there are so many of them. I’ve personally been confronted with all the stereotypes (for the record, my husband had a German passport before he married me). I’ve had Nigerians look at me in utter disbelief when they Heard- he married me in spite of legal stay..,because how could you settle for a ww when you can import a wife from home „who’ll give you less trouble“... Well, I think I have said that many times on this forum anyway. So yeah, cliches and stereotypes are alive and well on all fronts.
Some do that as well..,I guess it can work for those women who don’t speak English well and maybe haven’t studied the differences well...for me accent faking is an instant turn off if it’s not flowing naturally. I don’t have any issue with a genuine African accent if you are talking sense, but if you are trying to Americanise and it isn’t flowing we are done talking. And yes, I could imagine identity theft can be a thing if given the opportunity.
Some of them pretend to be black americans because at that time black Americans were viewed more favorably than African immigrants
Many relationships are between African students and European girls. Not always with WW but most are. Then these students are obliged to return to their country when they finish their studies. The fact that they are in a relationship is not taken into account. So if they wish to be together, they may choose to marry. I think it is not fair that there is no attempt to accommodate these couples. Students are accepted to study in Europe but essentially they are not allowed to have a serious relation with a European woman !
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/why-americans-smile-so-much/524967/ Yeah, why do you guys smile so much?;-) Just kidding…interesting article and for anyone wanting to travel central/Northern/ Eastern Europe.
It was really interesting to see your perspective, because I never met someone that told me about it that well. I can tell that it really depends on where you are, also if you're living in a big city or in a village. Germany can be really different. But I get that part where people ask those stupid questions. So as I believe, it's always a individual perspective on the things and as you said, your friend really loves it here. I also believe, it can be, at least partly, the same if you come from Germany and live in LA, while you don't know how life is over there. So it always depends on how good you can adapt, what makes you feel good or not. But thx for your insight, really interesting to read
