Social/Political Racism Towards Black People Under Nazi German Occupation: Literature Review

Novel: Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Half Blood Blues is based on a Jazz group in Paris France who were split up by racism and the violence of world war two. The novel alternates between two time periods, the nineteen forties and the nineteen nineties. The three main musicians in the band were Sid Griffiths, Chip Jones, and Hieronymus Faulk. Through Sid’s point of view the reader can see the racism and segregation that minorities faced in the nineteen forties. France was an especially hard place to live in this time period because it was under Nazi occupation. In the beginning of the novel Hieronymus, the voice of the band was arrested at a cafe for being black and missing his identification papers. Hieronymus was rumored to be taken to a German camp putting a halt to the band.

Half Blood Blues really shows the mistreatment of minorities during world war two as they weren’t only discriminated against but some were imprisoned or even murdered by the Nazi’s. The novel also displays how it wasn’t only German soldiers that were openly racist at this time. An example of this would be when a french waiter said “drinking milk won’t make you white” to Sid upon ordering milk on page 13. On all accounts the novel shows the change in treatment of Black people as well as other minorities in France and Germany between the nineteen forties and nineteen nineties.

“Blacks During The Holocaust Era” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

This article mainly focused on how black people were seen in Nazi German society. As a whole it showed that black people were seen as hated and inferior. A lot of this hate was said to come from the unwanted occupation of black french soldiers that were stationed in Germany after world war one. Also there was an extremely small amount of black people in Germany so it was easy for white people to feel superior. Black people were hated so much that they were referred to as “Rhineland Bastards” and were said to be “ruining the white race. ” False rumours were also spread stating that black French soldiers raped german women and carried diseases like Venereal in order to spread hate towards black people.

This article shows how black people that lived in Nazi occupied areas were put to a social disadvantage because of false rumours and hate spread by the government that resulted them to be seen as inferior.

Rosenhaft, Eve “What Happened to Black Germans under the Nazis”

This second article discusses the policies and laws put in place to make black people in Nazi Germany and occupied areas constitutionally lesser. When the Nazi Party came into power they quickly put laws in place to make black people inferior. One of the first laws created against black people was that they couldn’t be involved in politics. The laws quickly became more oppressive and black people were eventually deemed as “alien blood. ” This meant that black people were put under many of the same laws that Jewish people faced. As a result black people were stripped of any nationality and were forbidden from dating, marrying or having any relation with white people. Then more segregation laws were added. Previously formed mixed marriages were terminated in order to maintain a true German blood line. Also black people were officially banned from all schools in 1942. The judicial system was another aspect of society that was stacked against black people. Black people were often targeted by police and it was very rare for a black person to ever be released from jail after being charged. Some black prisoners were even sent to concentration camps, some ended up being murdered at these camps.

This article provides powerful evidence that black people living in Nazi Germany or occupied countries were put to a great societal disadvantage due to some of the laws put into place that would prevent their voices from being heard or youth being educated. It is also shown that black people were segregated in these times and that they faced great danger from the racially biased judicial system.