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Black German Cultural Society™ Home History BGCS Events » BGCS Banquet BGCS RESOURCES » BGCS Articles BGCS Books BGCS FILMS/ VIDEOS German ‘Brown Babies’ » ‘Brown Baby’ ADOPTIONS Searching For Family Contact BGCS Navigation– Home– History– BGCS Events–– BGCS Banquet– BGCS RESOURCES–– BGCS Articles–– BGCS Books–– BGCS FILMS/ VIDEOS– German ‘Brown Babies’–– ‘Brown Baby’ ADOPTIONS– Searching For Family– Contact BGCS August 13, 2021     Research on Post-WW II Mixed-Race Children Photo credit: ©Julie Skarratt Research on Post-World War II Mixed-Race Children of Germany Alexis Clark, author, and free-lance journalist is passionate about uncovering the history of mixed-race children born to African American soldiers and German women in post-World War II Germany. BGCS has shared her articles on Mabel Grammer and the Brown Babies for The New York Times and The History Channel, respectively (see links below). She would love to interview those that fit the criteria of being a “mixed-race child born to an African American soldier and a German woman” in post-World War II Germany for her book research. For background information, Ms. Clark has provided her bio, as well as the links to the articles she has written on the subject matter. If interested, please contact her directly. She will be happy to answer any questions you might have. Alexis Clark Bio Overlooked No More: Mabel Grammer, Whose Brown Baby Plan Found Homes for Hundreds The New York Times When Jim Crow Reigned Amid the Rubble of Nazi Germany The New York Times Why Mixed-Race Children in Post-WWII Germany Were Deemed a ‘Social Problem’ The History Channel: January 28, 2020     Research Mixed-Race Children’s Camp in Asel, Germany Research post-WWII, Mixed-Race Children’s Camp in Asel, Germany BGCS has been asked to post this information: 28/01/2020 Ladies and Gentlemen: We are a group of historians who would like to have a closer look at the history of one of the foster-home camps where children of black GIs and German mothers were raised in the post- WWII time directly in our vicinity. I was actually a next-door neighbour. Our primary interest is to establish a contact to those who have migrated to America in order to get more information about these children and their later paths in life. As far as we know that camp was in existence from 1956 to 1959, since their personal history is also part of the history of our village and the adjoining village of VÖHL where these kids went to school. The camp, as far as we know, bore the name of ALBERT SCHWEITZER, and it was run by the Dilloo family. They were Lutheran pastors. The location was in ASEL, which has been incorporated into the greater community of VÖHL (VOEHL). Provided you would like to obtain more information about us, you might look at the website of the Old Synagogue at Vöhl. Maybe you could help us a bit in finding some of the addresses. Best by email: [email protected] With a lot of thanks, Wolf-Michael Sherrard Hack (Photograph: Asel, Vöhl, Germany) October 24, 2018     The History of Black History Month in Germany A special event by John Eichler (Lawyer; Philosopher; Author) The Artistic Cultural Diplomacy Forum 2018 “Building Cultural Bridges through Art, Film, and Music” (Berlin; February 21st – 23rd, 2018)   April 14, 2018     BGCS at the German-American Heritage Foundation On Thursday, April 12th, 2018: It was an honor to receive a personal invitation from President Hardy von Auenmueller of the German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA, to represent and speak about Post WWll, German-born, US occupation children at the opening reception of “Homestory Deutschland” – Black Biographies in Historical and Present Times Exhibit, held at the German-American Heritage Foundation in Washington DC. GAHF President Hardy Auenmueller and BGCS founding President Shirley Gindler-Price Cocktail Reception for Homestory Deutschland Theodor Wonja Michael is one of the oldest Afro-Germans living in Germany. He was born on January 15th 1925 in Berlin. Introductions by GAHF President Hardy von Auenmueller and Executive Director Katja Sipple German Embassy Representative Dr Marilyn Sephocle of Howard University BGCS President Shirley Gindler-Price Sweden Embassy Representative Additional photographs of Reception and Homestory Deutschland Exhibit: German-American Heritage Foundation Homestory Deutschland April 11, 2018     2018 BGCS Exhibit: German ‘Brown Babies’: Post WWll, US Occupation Children The Black German Cultural Society’s “German ‘Brown Babies’: Post WWll, US Occupation Children Exhibit” at the African American History and Culture Showcase, Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA. March 31 – April 1, 2018. April 25, 2017     BGCS at the 2017 Black History and Culture Showcase BGCS Exhibit Germany’s ‘Brown Babies’: The Forgotten Children 2017 Black History & Culture Showcase Pennsylvania Convention Center 04/15 – 16/2017 As one sweet elderly woman said, “Ya’ll sure was some pretty babies! I would have adopted one of ya’ll.” Again, our exhibit, German “Brown Babies” The Forgotten Children, made an impression and had an emotional impact on so many visitors to our exhibit. Everyone was so appreciative of the information. Of course, we had our dedicated followers who said they always feel compelled to see our display over and over again, but many people were seeing it for the first time. They had never heard of or even considered that there were mixed-race, post WWll, German-born occupation children of African-American descent. We are here. We are survivors. BGCS Display Occupation child & President Shirley Gindler-Price & Mr. Oshman German Society of PA A surprise! A another lovely Occupation baby. Sister C of the Paul Robeson Museum   November 8, 2016     The German Society of PA, 252nd Stiftungsfest Gala Dinner November 5th, 2016: It was an honor to be the invited guest of Philadelphia Councilman At-Large Al Taubenberger. 252nd Stiftungsfest Gala Dinner: The German Society’s Stiftungsfest, or Founder’s Ball, is celebrated every November as a commemoration of the Society’s founding in 1764. The evening, a black tie gala, began with a champagne reception in the library, followed by a catered dinner and dancing in the auditorium. One of the highlights of the event was the Silent Auction, and featured items such as vacation home stays, children’s lederhosen, sporting event tickets, museum passes, and restaurant gift cards. Champagne Reception in The Horner Library and Reading Room. The Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library is a research library, housed in an original 1888 reading room restored by the Society in the 1990s. The library houses more than 50,000 volumes, over three-quarters of which are in German, and is one of the largest collections of German books in the United States. The library also maintains a small collection of newer books that that may be borrowed by members of the Society. It was an honor to be the invited guest of Councilman At-Large Al Taubenberger. Here with his wife Joanne, and Founding President of the Black German Cultural Society Shirley Gindler-Price and husband Vernon Price. Councilman-At-Large Al Taubenberger Speaking. President of The German Society of PA Tony Michels, seated. President of BGCS Shirley Gindler-Price. President of The German Society of PA, Mr. Tony Michels and wife. Unknown to the greater public, German settlers lead by Francis Daniel Pastorius (who was, like Michels, from Krefeld) are credited with the first recorded protest against slavery, as early as 1683, insisting it was incompatible with Christianity. Founding President of the Black German Cultural Society Shirley Gindler-Price. November 1, 2016     A History of Black People in Germany Portrait of the family of Mandenga Diek, Berlin, about 1920 – with his wife Emilie Diek (nee Wiedelinski) and daughters Erika and Doris. Many in today’s Black community have roots dating to more than 100 years ago │© SWF A history of Black people in Germany The journey has been an arduous one. The historian Paulette Reed-Anderson informs us that in 1682, a ship bearing slaves from Africa docked in Hamburg. Twenty-five years later (1707), African musicians are employed in Prussian military units and Mohrenstrasse is christened in Berlin. By 1877, however, the first of the dreadful Völkerschauen (‘ethnographic exhibitions’) were staged in Hamburg and Berlin.  Seven years later, 1884, Germany was in full colonial mode, annexing Cameroon, Togo, South-West Africa and the so-called German East Africa. But by 1904, the colonies would revolt and Germany would respond with massacres against hundreds of thousands of Herero, Nama and other Africans. Germany would lose its colonies as part of the treaty ending World War I. The British and French allies stationed Black soldiers from their own African colonies in Germany, and hundreds of biracial offspring ensued which were derogatively called the “Rhineland bastards”. Almost all were either sterilised or interned in concentration camps during the era of National Socialism. The Nazi era, of course, saw the invocation of the Nuremberg Laws “to protect German bloodline and honour”; thus all Black Germans and their spouses were stripped of their citizenship. The defeat of Hitler and Nazism ushered in an enormous 400,000-strong allied occupation force, including Black soldiers. Thousands of biracial children emerged from relationship between the soldiers and German women, and they were met with hostility and referred to as Besatzungskinder (occupation children). Many were adopted by Black American families, but most fell into dilapidated orphanages or were raised by single mothers. Cameroon-born Martin Dibobe, train conductor, at the U-Bahnhof Schlesisches Tor, Berlin ca. 1908. Many Africans came to Germany from its colonies in the continent. Germany would lose its colonies as part of the treaty ending World War I in 1918│Stadt Berlin It was not pretty. Charly Graf, for example, was born to a Black American GI and a White German woman. Raised in a hard-scrabble section of Mannheim and ignored by his teachers in school, Charly trained his body for professional boxing but also drifted into crime. Prophetically, in May 1985, Charly’s jailers allowed him a brief reprieve from prison so that he could fight Reiner Hartmann in Düsseldorf. Charly won. Now Germany’s heavyweight champ, he was returned to prison. In general, the effect of Black GIs on Germany has been overstated; actual influence came from American pop culture with its many Black stars, not from soldiers passing through. But by 1960, owing largely to changes in Britain’s immigration laws, migration routes also changed, with Africans now journeying through Italy, across the Alps and into Germany and even Scandinavia. Here was real change. The Africans settled into Germany, learned the language, attended university, worked and often prospered, and also married. The roots of today’s Black Germans were set in the soil. By 1986, Black Germans were ready to take a stand. Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD) established networks of meeting and collaboration among Black Germans and “Farbe Bekennen–Afrodeutsche Frauen auf der Spuren ihrer Geschichte” (Showing your colour – Afro-Germans in the search for their history) was published and became an indisputable classic. The basic work of ISD – advocating for Black Germans – is not new. Historian Reed-Anderson reminds us that following World War I, Martin Dibobe, a native of Cameroon and a tram driver in Berlin, represented an association of Africans who petitioned the Weimar government for better treatment of Blacks in Germany. My view of ISD has always leaned towards the personal. In 2006, for example, Karolin M. told me this story of growing up in Gera: “I was always aware of being the only Black person in school or wherever, and it seems that every second day or so I had to hear some negative comment about my Blackness. I was often afraid to go anywhere.” Then Karolin found ISD on the Internet and attended the Bundestreffen (annual National Retreat of the ISD) in Heidelberg. “It was amazing,” she recalled. “I had never seen so many Black people. I had no idea there was a Black world in Germany. When it was over, I cried all the way home, and for many more days.” Here is the basic task before ISD and all Black Germans: ending their isolation in a world that all too often responds negatively to Blackness. Article by Gyavira Lasana  Originally posted HERE. April 5, 2016     BGCS™ Exhibit at Black History & Culture Showcase The Black German Cultural Society™ at the Black History & Culture Showcase, Philadelphia PA Convention Center. We had a magnificent time educating the public about the first generation, binational, Post WWII US Occupation Afro-German children born in Germany. It was very gratifying to see so much interest in our experiences and history. Thanks to everyone who came out to support us! More photos HERE The Black History and Culture Showcase was Saturday and Sunday, March 26-27, 2016 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th & Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA  11am-6pm.   February 26, 2016     German Town: The Lost Story Of Seaford Town Jamaica German Town: The Lost Story Of Seaford Town Jamaica “German Town: The Lost Story Of Seaford Town Jamaica” is a documentary that explores the history of German heritage within Westmoreland Jamaica. Deep within the isolated undeveloped mountains of Westmoreland lies a village with a history and people unique to Jamaica. It is said that the inhabitants of this village are descendants of German indentured servants who were used to work the Jamaican plantations after the emancipation period to substitute the slave labor that drove the islands economy. Others think they came under different circumstances as runaway prisoners, former military battered after the Napoleonic wars seeking a better life to escape the poverty and hardships in their home lands. This documentary project explores the history and contemporary life of Jamaicans of German heritage. Running time 55 mins Directed by- David Ritter Produced by- David Ritter and Clinton Wallace for photomundo international To watch this documentary in its entirety go HERE DVDs of this documentary can be purchased HERE For more info and screenings contact: DAVID RITTER: [email protected] germantownjamaica.com « Older posts Black & German History 'HONORING OUR OWN & HONORING EACH OTHER': A Celebration of Afro-German children, so-called German ‘Brown Babies’ the US occupation children born to German women and African American soldiers in post WWII Germany. 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