Hans Massaquoi
Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi (January 19, 1926 – January 19, 2013) was a German-American journalist and author. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, to a German mother and a Liberian father of Vai ethnicity, the grandson of Momulu Massaquoi, the consul general of Liberia in Germany at the time. He wrote his autobiography Destined to Witness. Growing up Black in Nazi Germany, published in 1999. The German translation of it was published the same year, as Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger. Meine Kindheit in Deutschland. The title references a racist rhyme that schoolboys taunted him with in 1932. The German version was adapted as a film and released in 2006. He later published a second autobiography, only in German: Hänschen klein, ging allein … Mein Weg in die Neue Welt (2004). Childhood in Germany In his autobiography, Destined to Witness, Massaquoi describes his childhood and youth in Hamburg during the Nazis' rise to power. His autobiography provides a unique point of view: he was one of the very few German-born children of German and African descent. He was often shunned, but escaped Nazi persecution. This duality remained a key theme throughout his early life until he witnessed racism as practiced in colonial Africa and later in the Jim Crow American South. Massaquoi enjoyed a relatively happy childhood with his mother, Bertha Baetz, who had arrived in Hamburg from Nordhausen and earlier from Ungfrungen. His father, Al-Haj Massaquoi, was a prince of the Vai people who was in Dublin studying law and only occasionally lived with the family at the consul general's home in Hamburg. Eventually, his grandfather Momulu, the first African posted to the diplomatic corps in Europe, was recalled to Liberia. Hans Massaquoi and his mother remained in Germany. Massaquoi was not aware of any other mixed race children in Hamburg, and like most German children his age he was lured by Nazi propaganda into thinking that joining the Hitler Youth was an exciting adventure of fanfares and games. There was a school contest to see if a class could get a 100% membership of the Deutsches Jungvolk, a subdivision of Hitler Youth, and Massaquoi's teacher devised a chart on the blackboard showing who had joined and who had not. The chart was filled in after each boy joined, until Massaquoi was pointedly the sole student left out. He recalled saying, "But I am German ... my mother says I'm German just like anybody else." His later attempt to join his friends by registering at the nearest Jungvolk office was also met with contempt. The denial of this rite of passage reinforced his perception that he was being ostracized because he was deemed "Non-Aryan" despite his German birth and mostly traditional German upbringing. After the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935, Massaquoi was officially classified as non-Aryan and barred from pursuing a course of education leading to a professional career. Instead he was forced to embark on an apprenticeship as a laborer. A few months before he completed school, Massaquoi was required to