Resources on Black Germans
Resources for Everyone
“The Last Forgotten Victims? Black Lives in Nazi Germany” with Professor Robbie Aitken
This program was recorded on January 26, 2024 for the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Dr. Robbie Aitken, professor at Sheffield Hallam University, discusses the concept of ‘forgotten victims,’ which looks at the experiences of Germany’s Black resident community. Dr. Aitken’s research suggests that there was a genocidal intent in Nazi policy towards Black people, which while not systematically implemented, had a devastating effect on Black lives. The talk will also consider why their stories are missing from public and academic knowledge of the Nazi period as well as more recent attempts to make these life stories visible.
Testimony from
Theodor Wonja Michael
Testimony from
Marie Nejar
“Black Artists under Nazi Persecution” by USHMM
“Jazz musician Freddy Johnson refused to let racism in America stall his career. He embraced opportunities throughout Europe until the United States entered the war and he and other Americans were arrested. At the Tittmoning internment camp, Johnson continued to play music and met Black portrait artist Josef Nassy, who depicted their daily life as prisoners. Life was even more precarious for Black German artists. While Bayume Mohamed Husen once acted in a Nazi propaganda film, he was eventually arrested for violating Nazi racial laws and died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. At this program during Black History Month, experts discussed artists’ experiences in Nazi Germany.”
“Blacks in Nazi Concentration Camps” by Bring It On! Podcast
“In today’s edition of Bring It On!, hosts Clarence Boone and William Hosea tackle the little covered topic of Black people in Nazi concentration camps. During the Nazi era and the Second World War, many Black German citizens were persecuted, deported, and ultimately killed by the Nazis as they did not fit the ideology of the ‘Aryan master race’.”
