'I just wanted to be white'
How thousands of children born to African-American fathers and white German mothers at the end of WW2 faced rampant racism in post-war Germany.
In the immediate aftermath of World War Two, thousands of children were born to white German women and black American soldiers who were stationed in Allied-occupied Germany. The mixed-race infants were viewed with contempt by many Germans and endured constant abuse and racism. Black activist and author Ika HΓΌgel-Marshall was one of the so-called "occupation babies". She tells Mike Lanchin about the painful struggle to discover her own identity as a result of the racism she experienced growing up black in post-war Germany.
Photo: Ika as a young girl (Courtesy of Ika HΓΌgel-Marshall)
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- Tue 3 Nov 2020 08:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Tue 3 Nov 2020 12:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Tue 3 Nov 2020 18:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
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