Black Germans and the Holocaust: The Aftermath

This photograph shows two Afro-German women who survived Nazi persecution in a bar which Black survivors set up in Berlin after the war. They both featured in last year's lecture on Black Germans and the Holocaust.

The International Slavery Museum will be marking Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2016 with a special free guest lecture by Professor Eve Rosenhaft from the University of Liverpool, who will be talking about the experiences of the Black German community in the aftermath of World War Two.

Like me, you may have been moved and intrigued by the resilience of individuals highlighted in Professor Rosenhaft’s previous lecture on Black Germans during the Holocaust, so this will be an opportunity both for people new to this history as well as those of us keen to explore further.

Eve tells us more: "Hitler’s racist policies and the upheavals of the Second World War interrupted the growth of Germany’s first Black community, damaging individuals and families. This lecture explores what happened after the end of the war, as Holocaust survivors tried to rebuild their lives, and a new generation of Afro-Germans tested the democratic values of the new West Germany.

"When Hitler came to power, there was a growing Black community in Germany, made up of people from Germany’s former colonies and their children and grandchildren as well as Africans and African Americans. They had formed social networks and political organisations, and were in contact with people of African descent in the United States and France.

"The racist and genocidal policies pursued by the Nazi regime left Black men and women damaged by internment, forced labour and sterilisation and families broken and dispersed. This lecture explores developments after the end of World War Two, when Black Holocaust survivors sought to rebuild their lives and networks in a divided Europe. Against this background a new generation of Black Germans, the children of American occupation soldiers, began to grow up, challenging the young West German democracy to prove that Nazi racism was a thing of the past".

Black Germans and the Holocaust: The Aftermath is on Saturday 23 January 2015 in the Anthony Walker Education Centre at the International Slavery Museum. This is a free talk and all are welcome. Additional events will be taking place during Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday January 27th.

English Cabaret with Kilmuir Papers will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, with a moving cycle of songs and readings. The first performance will take place at 1pm at the International Slavery Museum and the second performance will take place at the Museum of Liverpool at 2.30pm. These performances are free and all are welcome.