Week 4: Black Germans and Black Diaspora in Germany

Georgia Morrison and Emily Martin

Thursday 19th February 2015

Historical Context

• “Im Bewusstsein der Kolonialrevanchisten blieben die Schwarzen die Untermenschen, die es zu zivilisieren und zu disziplinieren galt”• World War 2 played both a positive and

negative role• Children of African American soldiers• BRD 2.6 Millionen AusländerInnen

Historical context cont.

• GDR in the 1960s saw Black German minority emerge; people from certain countries given right to study or work in East Germany

• Workers usually signed treaty to be allowed to stay from 3 to 6 years

• 1960s and 70s saw a spreading of extreme right ideologies

• “Ausländer –raus”• Post-reunification attacks

Farbe bekennen p 48

1981/2 Umfrage von INFAS (Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft)

Farbe bekennen p 140

Schwarze Afrikaner in der BRD 1997

Experiences – West Germany

• May Ayim - 1960

• ‘wenn ich mal groß sein, gehe ich nach Afrika. Dort sehen alle aus wie ich. Wenn Mama, Papa und meine weißen Geschwister zu Besuch kommen, werden die Leute auf sie zeigen....meine Eltern werden verstehen, wie das für mich war in Deutschland’

• This idea of fitting in and belonging ‘zerstört’• Das ist mein Vater. Ganz schwarz. • “Dagegen bist du weiß”• “Sehen in Afrika alle Menschen so schwarz

aus?”• “Na klar”• Ihr habt meinen Traum zerstört.

• “war ich nicht schwarz und nicht weiß”

• Subject to terms ‘Mischling’, ‘Neger’ , ‘Heimkind’ – struggle to see herself as ‘vollwertiger Mensch’

West Berlin 1984

• Marginalisation : but not racism• ‘Ausländerfeindlichkeit’• Not picked out as unusual because of her skin

colour, no ‘praising’ of her good command of German

1989 post ‘Mauerfall’

• Hardly any black Germans

• ‘täglich gegen unverblümte Beledigungen, feindliche Blicke, rassistische Diffamierungen’

1990+

• Didn’t consider the reunification to have brought many positives for immigrants, exiles, Jews or black Germans

• The wall has gone but the idea of ‘Fremde’ has stayed among the people

West German Conclusion

•Hard to find identity•Marginalisation – perhaps because of living in city?•The Mauerfall didn’t really make much difference for Black Germans

East German experience• “adolescents in question did not receive any positive support

from their social environment during crucial periods of their personal development and identity formation” (Piesche, 39)

• GDR relatively homogenous and closed society notion of “other” exaggerated.

• Foreign students and workers in GDR were dispersed and split into small groups

• GDR leaders blamed foreigners for racism and xenophobia because of their “unwillingness to integrate into GDR society” and cultural differences

East German experience

• High percentage of Black East Germans grew up with no Black parent and lack of identification in public discourse

• Lack of literature, music, media and travel• Black German adolescents lacked feeling of being

part of GDR• Schools a site where specific form of

discrimination against ethnic minorities actively produced and practiced

East German Experience- Conclusions

• GDR closed and homogenous society• Lack of resources for Black East Germans to

develop positive self image• Negative feeling surrounding Black East

Germans who were not supported by the state

Comparison

West Germany• Marginalisation• Difficulty in developing

positive self-image

East Germany• Marginalisation• Foreign workers/students

separated• Lack of resources and

support for young people• Difficulty in developing

positive self-image

Post Reunification

• Have attitudes changed?• May Ayim: reunification had little impact on

Black Germans from former West• Hoyerswerda saw violence against people

from Mozambique

Spiegel Experience

• •Tarik Galal – Sudan – 36• Hoyerswerda 1991• Germans fought with Vietnamese at a home

for Vertragsarbeiter • 32 injured• Terms ‘Bimbo’, ‘Kanacke’ ‘Haut bloß ab!’• ‘ungefähr das Schlimmste’ -

Reichskristallnacht

2006 World Cup

• Some parts of Brandenburg deemed dangerous for non-white football fans

• Followed an attack on an Ethiopian-German man in Potsdam who was left with severe injuries

• Map of "No-go zones" distributed to Black and Asian visitors

Overall Conclusion

• During division, experience of Black Germans worse in East

• Continued since Reunification to an extent• Germany-wide difficulty in developing positive

self-image

BibliographyAyim, May (2002) ‘Heimat und Einheit aus afro-deutscher Perspektive’, in May Ayim, Grenzenlos und unverschämt, pp. 88-103. Frankfurt: Fischer

Bechhaus-Gerst,M., Klein-Arendt,R., (2004), AfrikanerInnen in Deutschland und schwarze Deutsche – Geschichte und Gegenwart. Münster: LIT, pp.197-210

Ein Hauch von Freiheit, Prod. credit n.k., Prod. company n.k., 21:05 16/12/2014, Arte, 90 mins. http://bobnational.net/record/271363

Oguntoye, Katharina et al., eds. (1992) Farbe bekennen: Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte. Frankfurt: Fischer

Piesche, Peggy (2002) 'Black and German? East German Adolescents before 1989: A retrospective view of a "non-existent issue" in the GDR', in Leslie, A. Adelson (ed.) The Cultural After-life of East German: New Transnational Perspectives. Washington D.C.: H. & H. Gray Humanity Series, pp. 37-59

News ArticlesDer Spiegel (2006). Is Eastern Germany Safe for Foreigners? Racism Warning Has German Hackles Raised . Available at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/is-eastern-germany-safe-for-foreigners-racism-warning-has-german-hackles-raised-a-416904.html, accessed 16th February 2015.

Ehlers, Fiona (2015). 'Unter Sachsen', Der Spiegel (2/2015) pp. 50-54. Available at http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-131147800.html, accessed 16th February 2015

Harding, Luke. (2006) ‘Black and Asian fans told to ignore World Cup warnings’. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/may/19/football.lukeharding, accessed 16th February 2015

Pancevski, Bojan (2006). World Cup fans warned of race attacks. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1517063/World-Cup-fans-warned-of-race-attacks.html, accessed 16th February 2015.