Destined to Witness

Destined to Witness
Destined to Witness book cover.jpg

Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, is an autobiographical book by Hans J. Massaquoi.

Contents

Content

In his 1999 autobiography the author, former managing editor of Ebony, tells the story of his growing up in Hamburg. He was born in 1926 as son of a German mother and a Liberian law student, the only independent black African state at that time apart from Ethiopia. His grandfather was the Liberian consul-general to Hamburg. When his father and grandfather went back to Liberia in 1929, his mother decided to stay in Germany. She made her living working as a nurse, and she and the little boy had to move from the elegant villa to a modest cold-water apartment in the workers’ quarter Barmbek. He was shunned but was never a target of Nazi persecution like Jews and Roma were. He was rebuffed when he applied for membership in the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth), while every young male Aryan German was obliged to be a member. Moreover, due to his skin colour, he was never drafted.

Background

In the 1930s only a few black people lived in Germany, most of them in the Rhine area, children of German mothers and French-African soldiers. During World War I France had recruited troops from her African colonies, mainly from Senegal. These children in the French-occupied Rhineland were called Franzosenkinder (French children). In the northern part of Germany black people were so rare that most people had never seen one.

Translation to German and screenplay

Destined to Witness, in German titled Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger (Negro, Negro, Chimney Sweep), was a great success in Germany, remaining on top of the bestselling list of the German weekly Der Spiegel for a couple of months. A screenplay has been adapted from the book and movie shooting started in 2005. The film was run first on October 1 and 2 in 2006 as a two-parter on German ZDF TV channel.

See also

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Destined (Cast novel) — Destined   …   Wikipedia

  • Hitler Youth — Hitler Jugend …   Wikipedia

  • Volkssturm — marching, November 1944 The Volkssturm (German pronunciation: [ˈfɔlks.ʃtʊɐ̯m], lit. storm of the people ; People s Army or National Militia ) was a German national militi …   Wikipedia

  • Racial policy of Nazi Germany — Eva Justin of the Racial Hygiene and Demographic Biology Research Unit measuring the skull of a Romani woman. The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the Aryan …   Wikipedia

  • Rhineland Bastard — was a derogatory term used in Nazi Germany to describe children of mixed German and African parentage. Under Nazism s racial theories, these children were considered inferior to pure Aryans and consigned to sterilization. History The term… …   Wikipedia

  • Hans Massaquoi — Hans Jürgen Massaquoi (born January 19, 1926) is a German American journalist and author. He was born in Hamburg, Germany to a German mother and Liberian father who was consul general of Liberia in Germany. Biographical account In his… …   Wikipedia

  • List of World War II topics (D) — # D 10 tank gun # D 8 Armored Car # D Day 1 # D Day (game) # D Day Dodgers # D Day Museum # D Day the Sixth of June # # D Day # D. C. Stephenson # D. C. Wimberly # D. Robinson # D. V. Peyton Ward # Döme Sztójay # Džafer beg Kulenović # Dachau… …   Wikipedia

  • Ebony (Zeitschrift) — Ebony, eine monatlich erscheinende Zeitschrift für den afroamerikanischen Markt in den USA, wurde von John H. Johnson gegründet und erscheint seit Herbst 1945. Die Titelblätter der frühen Ausgaben zeigten Schönheiten wie Lena Horne und Dorothy… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi — (* 19. Januar 1926 in Hamburg) ist ein deutsch amerikanischer Journalist und Schriftsteller deutsch liberianischer Herkunft. Leben und Wirken Hans Jürgen Massaquoi wurde 1926 in Hamburg als afrodeutscher Sohn der deutschen Krankenschwester Bertha …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hans J. Massaquoi — Hans Jürgen Massaquoi (* 19. Januar 1926 in Hamburg) ist ein Deutsch Amerikanischer Journalist und Schriftsteller deutsch liberianischer Herkunft. Leben und Wirken Hans Jürgen Massaquoi wurde 1926 in Hamburg als afrodeutscher Sohn der deutschen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”