Black Holocaust Survivors

Black Holocaust Survivors?

Written by A. Tolbert, III

So much of our history is lost to us because we often don't

Write the history books, don't film the documentaries, or

Don't pass the accounts down from generation to generation.

One documentary now touring the film festival circuit,

Telling us to"Always Remember" is "Black Survivors of the

Holocaust" (1997). Outside the U.S., the film is entitled

"Hitler's Forgotten Victims" (Afro-WisdomProductions). It

Codifies another dimension to the "Never Forget "Holocaust

Story--our dimension.

Did you know that in the 1920's, there were 24,000 Blacks

Living in Germany? Neither did I. Here's how it happened,

And how many of them were eventually caught unawares by the

Events of the Holocaust. Like most West European nations,

Germany established colonies in Africa in the late 1800's

In what later became Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, and Tanzania.

German genetic experiments began there, most notably

Involving prisoners taken from the 1904 Heroro Massacre

That left 60,000 Africans dead, following a 4-year revolt

Against German colonization. After the shellacking Germany

Received in World War I, it wasstripped of its African

Colonies in 1918.

As a spoil of war, the French were allowed to occupy

Germany in the Rhineland--a bitter piece of real estate

That has gone back and, forth between the two nations

For centuries. The French willfully deployed their own

Colonized African soldiers as the occupying force. Germans

Viewed this as the final insult of World War I, and, soon

Thereafter, 92% of them voted in the Nazi party. Hundreds

Of the African Rhineland-based soldiers intermarried with

German women and raised their children as Black Germans.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote about his plans for these

"Rhineland Bastards". When he came to power, one of his

First directives was aimed at these mixed-race children.

Underscoring Hitler's obsession with racial purity, by

1937, every identified mixed-race child in the Rhineland

Had been forcibly sterilized, in order to prevent further

"race polluting", as Hitler termed it.

Hans Hauck, a Black Holocaust survivor and a victim of

Hitler's mandatory sterilization program, explained in the

Film "Hitler's Forgotten Victims" that, when he was forced

To undergo sterilization as a teenager, he was given no

Anesthetic. Once he received his sterilization certificate,

He was "free to go", so long as he agreed to have no sexual

Relations whatsoever with Germans.

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Although most Black Germans attempted to escape their

Fatherland, heading for France where people like Josephine

Baker were steadily aiding and supporting the French

Underground, many still encountered problems elsewhere.

Nations shut their doors to Germans, including the Black

Ones.

Some Black Germans were able to eke out a living during

Hitler's reign of terror by performing in Vaudeville shows,

But many Blacks, steadfast in their belief that they were

German first, Black second, opted to remain in Germany.

Some fought with the Nazis (a few even became Lutwaffe

Pilots)!

Unfortunately, many Black Germans were arrested, charged

With treason, and shipped in cattle cars to concentration

Camps.

Often these trains were so packed with people and (equipped

With no bathroom facilities or food), that, after the four-

Day journey, box car doors were opened to piles of the dead

And dying. Once inside the concentration camps, Blacks were

Given the worst jobs conceivable. Some Black American

Soldiers, who were captured and held as prisoners of war,

Recounted that, while they were being starved and forced

Into dangerous labor (violating the Geneva Convention),

They were still better off than Black German concentration

Camp detainees, who were forced to do the unthinkable-man

The crematoriums and work in labs where genetic experiments

Were being conducted. As a final sacrifice, these Blacks

Were killed every three months so that they would never be

Able to reveal the inner workings of the "Final Solution".

In every story of Black oppression, no matter how we were

Enslaved, shackled, or beaten, we always found a way to

Survive and to rescue others. As a case in point, consider

Johnny Voste, a Belgian resistance fighter who was arrested

In 1942 for alleged sabotage and then shipped to Dachau.

One of his jobs was stacking vitamin crates. Risking his

Own life, he distributed hundreds of vitamins to camp

Detainees, which saved the lives of many who were starving,

Weak, and ill--conditions exacerbated by extreme vitamin

Deficiencies. His motto was "No, you can't have my life;

I will fight for it."

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According to Essex University's Delroy Constantine- Simms,

There were Black Germans who resisted Nazi Germany, such

As Lari Gilges, who founded the Northwest Rann--an

Organization of entertainers that fought the Nazis in his

home town of Dusseldorf--and who was murdered by the SS

In 1933, the year that Hitler came into power. Little

information remains about the numbers of Black Germans

Held in the camps or killed under the Nazi regime. Some

victims of the Nazi sterilization project and Black

survivors of the Holocaust are still alive and telling

their story in films such as "Black Survivors of the Nazi

Holocaust", but they must also speak out for justice, not

just history.

Unlike Jews (in Israel and in Germany), Black Germans

Receive no war reparations because their German citizen-

ship was revoked (even though they were German-born). The

Only pension they get is from those of us who are willing

to tell the world their stories and continue their battle

For recognition and compensation. After the war, scores of

Blacks who had somehow managed to survive the Nazi regime,

Were rounded up and tried as war criminals. Talk about the

Final insult! There are thousands of Black Holocaust

stories, from the triangle trade, to slavery in America,

to the gas ovens in Germany.

We often shy away from hearing about our historical past

Because so much of it is painful; however, we are in this

struggle together for rights, dignity, and, yes, reparations

for wrongs done to us through the centuries.

We need to always remember so that we can take steps to

ensure that these atrocities never happen again.

For further information, read: Destined to Witness: Growing

Up Black in Nazi Germany, by Hans J. Massaquoi.

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END OF FORGOTTEN HISTORY

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