Makewetalknow

There was a systematic effort to erase every information containing the presence of Black peoples beyond Africa and the Caribbean. This process was known as the Great Reset, and its original goal was to erase black people’s contributions to world history in favour of Caucasian faces.

European power-that-be used their influence in international media, education, and institutions to completely erase black civilization’s in ancient Europe, Asia, and beyond. Take Egypt, for example. Despite its clear African roots, Egypt’s history has been hijacked to represent the culture of the country’s modern-day Arabs of Turkish origin. This explains why our understanding of black civilization is limited to slavery.

What they don’t want you to know is that many European royals during the 16th century actually had dark skin. Many images of white European royal families are fake, created using a technique known as iconography, which has resulted in widespread historical inaccuracy.

For almost eight centuries, the Moors, a dark-skinned people from North Africa, ruled parts of Europe, including Spain and Portugal. Interestingly, Caucasians were a minority in Europe only 500 years ago. White European scholars such as James Cowles Prichard and Godfrey Higgins have extensively documented this history, demonstrating that Black people once dominated Europe. If you are interested in learning more about them, there is a list of their works available.

1. Samuel Higgins’ “Anacalypsis” (1836) and James Prichard’s “Researches into the Physical History of Mankind” (1813), which documented the African origins of European royalty
2. Count Volney’s “Travels in Syria and Egypt” (1787), describing ancient Egyptians as “black men”
3. J.A. Rogers’ “Sex and Race” (1940), validating Black contributions to European history
4. Charles Gabriel Seligman – “Egypt and Negro Africa: A Study in Divine Kingship” (1934)
5. Martin Bernal – “Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization” (1987)
6. Frank M. Snowden Jr. – “Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience” (1970)
7. James Cowles Prichard – “Researches into the Physical History of Mankind” (1813), documented African presence in ancient Europe

These researchers have added to the discussion about how black people were both royalty and native to Europe. However, over the last century, the majority of them were removed, erasing their existence from the history of countries like Germany.

This article will reveal the little-known history of Black people in Germany and look at the unfortunate factors that caused them to be erased.

Note: The majority of the records I will use here are from the German government and may be inaccurate, which explains why they do not want us to know that black people were natives in Europe.

How the Extermination of Black People in Germany was Designed

According to German government records, 19th-century Germany was home to 20,000-25,000 black people. By the 1920s, this community had grown into a thriving, diverse community of immigrants and multigenerational Afro-Germans.

Afro-Germans created a vibrant hub in Berlin’s Moabit district and Hamburg’s St. Pauli quarter, embodying the port city’s cosmopolitan spirit. Moabit’s affordability and university proximity attracted a diverse crowd, fostering a unique Afro-German identity. They contributed to music, literature, activism, and community organizing, enriching Germany’s culture. Despite facing racism, these neighbourhoods thrived, preserving their traditions.

However, things took a turn for the worse when the Nazis, who took control of Germany in 1933, decided it was time to eliminate the idea that Black people were equal to their so-called divine Pale Aryan race. They saw long-standing ethnic diversity and pluralism in German society as an existential threat, a cancer that needed to be removed in order to preserve the purity of the white German people.

Read more: How Germany Committed Genocide in Namibia in 1904

The Nazis’ ideology was based on a twisted belief in Aryan superiority, with black people regarded as “Untermenschen” (subhumans) unworthy of equal rights. This drove their desire for racial purity, which resulted in the systematic elimination of those deemed unfit. Institutional racism, anti-Semitism, ableism, and nationalism influenced their actions, resulting in humanity’s darkest moments.

The Nazi regime used laws and propaganda to segregate and eradicate Germany’s Black population, erasing centuries-old communities. They dehumanized and isolated Black Germans by stripping them of their citizenship, livelihoods, and basic rights. Support groups, mostly missionaries, provided critical aid to Afro-German families by providing food, shelter, and medical care, allowing them to survive the brutal persecution.

The Nazi regime’s first major legal salvo was the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, enacted on April 7, 1933. This law removed non-Aryans, including Jews, Afro-Germans, and other minority groups, from government positions and influential positions in education, healthcare, media, and culture.

This legislation dealt a devastating blow to the Black community, denying them socioeconomic mobility and access to the professional workforce. It was a deliberate act to stifle the development of future Black Germans, sending the message that only the Aryan race was worthy of existence. The Nazis made it clear: if you were not pale-skinned, you will be exterminated.

Read more: Genocide: How Britain massacred the Tasmanian Aboriginal natives in Australia

One man who played a key role in initiating these anti-Black policies was Wilhelm Frick, who held the Office of the Nazi Minister of the Interior. As a key architect of the Nazi regime’s racial policies, Wilhelm Frick drafted laws targeting Afro-Germans and other minority groups. His efforts began before 1933, with an unsuccessful attempt to prohibit mixed marriages in 1930.

The 1935 Nuremberg Race Laws, comprising the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor, established legal racial discrimination. These laws stripped Afro-Germans of full citizenship, rendering them second-class citizens denied access to housing, education, employment, and public life.

Nazi propaganda, led by Joseph Goebbels, demonized Afro-Germans, Jews, and non-Aryans, portraying them as a threat to German society. Biased news and manipulated information were spread through radio, posters, and newspapers, justifying discriminatory policies.

The propaganda machine promoted national unity and a utopian future, while enabling persecution. By depicting Germany as a victim, the Nazis concealed their true intentions and justified war and violence. This culture of fear and intolerance had disastrous consequences. The Nazis’ ideology of racial purity persuaded many Germans that expulsion was necessary for national survival, providing further persecution and atrocity.

In December 1935, Wilhelm Frick expanded the Nuremberg Race Laws, targeting people of African descent, their children, and Sinti and Roma communities. The amended laws prohibited marriages between Black people and white Germans of childbearing age, criminalizing interracial unions. Those in such relationships faced harassment, arrest, and potential imprisonment for “racial defilement” (Rassenschande).

In 1937, the Nazi regime implemented a forced sterilization program targeting Afro-Germans, aiming to prevent reproduction. This program was part of the regime’s broader efforts to achieve racial purity. Thousands of Black men and women were subjected to forced sterilization, involving procedures like surgical sterilization and experiments. The Nazi regime also implemented Aktion T4, a euthanasia program targeting vulnerable populations.

The Aktion T4 program aimed to achieve a specific societal vision by targeting individuals, including those with disabilities and chronic conditions. Those affected included Afro-Germans with disabilities. The program used lethal injections, starvation, overdoses, and gassing. Between 1920 and 1945, the Black German population declined significantly. This dark era had long-term consequences, leaving deep scars and a profound sense of loss.

It wasn’t until the 1980s Afro-German movement that people of African diaspora heritage banded together to rebuild and establish a vibrant Black German community, reclaiming their history, culture, and identity.

One notable figure who emerged from this period was Hans Massaquoi, whose memoir “Destined to Witness” recounts his experiences growing up Black in Nazi Germany. Born to a Liberian diplomat father and a German mother, Massaquoi faced relentless racism and dehumanization.

Despite being barred from pursuing a professional career, he found solace in reading and survived the devastating Allied bombing of Hamburg, witnessing the horrors of concentration camps. His story is a testament to individual resilience and bravery in the face of oppression.

Conclusion

The extermination of Germany’s Black population is a barbaric and underappreciated atrocity. Over 250 years, systemic racism, colonialism, and genocide have killed nearly a billion people of African descent.

It is estimated that European supremacy resulted in the deaths of between 200 and 400 million black people over centuries. When several sources are added together, they include:

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade: 15-20 million Africans died during the journey to the Americas, and millions more died in slavery. (Source: UNESCO)
• Colonialism and Imperialism: Estimates suggest that 50-100 million people died in Africa, Asia, and the Americas due to European colonization. (Source: Historian Niall Ferguson)
• The African Holocaust: Some estimates put the death toll at 100-200 million Africans due to slavery, colonialism, and other forms of oppression. (Source: African Holocaust Society)

Sadly, to this day, there has been no formal apology or reparations offered to the descendants of slavery worldwide. The fact that so many Germans today are ignorant of this terrible chapter in German history is even more depressing.

Sources

• Campt, T. (2004). Other Germans: Black Germans and the politics of race, gender, and memory in the Third Reich. University of Michigan Press.

• Higgins, G. (1836). Anacalypsis: An attempt to draw aside the veil of the Saitic or an ancient mythology of the Egyptians. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green.

• Prichard, J. C. (1813). Researches into the physical history of mankind. John and Arthur, Arch.

• Volney, C. (1787). Travels in Syria and Egypt, in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785. G.G.J. and J. Robinson.

• Rogers, J. A. (1940). Sex and race: Negro-Caucasian mixing in all ages and all lands. J.A. Rogers.

• Massaquoi, H. J. (1999). Destined to witness: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany. W. Morrow.

• UNESCO. (n.d.). The Transatlantic Slave Trade. Retrieved from https://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/slave-route

• Ferguson, N. (2002). Empire: The rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power. Basic Books

• African Holocaust Society. (n.d.). African Holocaust. Retrieved from https://www.africanholocaust.net/

• Image of Hans Massaquoi. (n.d.). Retrieved from Sheffield Hallam University website: https://www.shu.ac.uk/research/in-action/projects/being-black-in-nazi-germany