| Total population |
|---|
| Up to 500,000 estimated[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Berlin, Hamburg |
| Languages |
Afro-Germans (German: Afrodeutsche),[2] African-Germans or Black Germans are defined as the Black African community and diaspora in Germany.
Historic backgrounds vary; so does allocation: in particular, cities like Hamburg and Berlin have substantial grown Black communities, with a high percentage of ethnically mixed families; modern traffic and trade is further changing the communities in additional areas like Frankfurt, Munich, or Cologne. As of 2005, there were approx. 500,000 Afro-Germans in a nation of 80 million. Although this number is hard to calculate because the German census does not list race as a category due to the complicated "legacy of German racial ideology." [3] There are up to 70.000 (2% of the population) people of Black African origin in Berlin.[4]
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In 926, the Nubian Saint Maurice became a patron saint of the Holy Roman Emperors and has been honored in various sculptures and graphics throughout Germany: City of Coburg's Coats of Arms or a sculpture in Magdeburg.
The first German salesmen, missionaries and travelers came to Africa around 1600. The first Africans that they brought back home worked as aides for households or businesses.[5] Most were living in situations comparable to their German-born work mates. Ghana-born Anton Wilhelm Amo became the first African to attend a European university during the 1720s and taught and wrote in philosophy - sponsored by a German duke.
At the 1884 Berlin Congo conference, attended by all major powers of the day, Africa was divided under European powers. The creation of the African German colonies set the stage for a larger number of Africans to enter Germany for the first time. The running of the German colonies demanded indigenous specialists for the colonial administration and economy, and many young Africans came to Germany to be educated. Some of them received higher education at German schools and universities, but the majority were trained at mission training and colonial training centers as officers or domestic mission teachers. Africans were frequently used as interpreters for African languages at German-Africa research centers, or came to Germany as former members of the German protection troops, the Askari.
During the tempestuous years following World War I, the French Army occupied the Rhineland, utilising African soldiers amongst their forces. Their children (like Hans Hauck) were known as "Rhineland Bastards". As their name suggests, they were subject to much discrimination and degradation.
In the course of World War I the Belgians, British and French took control of Germany's colonies in Africa. The situation for the Africans who had lived under German administration in Africa changed in various ways. For example, these Africans had possessed a colonial German identification card, and this became a status which allowed for treatment as "members of the former protectorates". After the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the Africans were encouraged to become citizens of their respective mandate countries, but most preferred to stay where they were. In numerous petitions (well documented for Togo by P. Sebald and for Cameroon by A. Rüger) they also tried to inform the German public about the conditions in the colonies and continued to request German help and support.
To the numerous political activities of Africans belonged the foundation of a bilingual periodical that appeared in German and Duala: Elolombe ya Cameroon (Sun of Cameroon). A political group of Africans established the German branch of a Paris-based human-rights organization: "the German section of the League to the Defense of the Negro Race".
Many of the Africans encountered the Great Depression in Germany with no claim for unemployment compensation as this depended on German citizenship. Some Africans were however supported through a small budget from the German Foreign Office.
The conditions for Africans in Germany grew worse during the National Socialistic dictatorship. Naturalized Afro-Germans lost their passports. Working conditions and travel were made extremely difficult for Black musicians, variety, circus or film professionals.
Based on a racist propaganda, it was impossible even for willing employers to retain black employees. To become invisible with the evident visibility and compulsion had become less a life condition than an act of balance.
The Nazis speculated about the possibility of winning the support of Africans from former German colonies for a pro-German colonial propaganda, as the Nazis were planning an "African colonial empire under German predominance". The legislation for a planned, apartheid-like system already existed in design in 1940, including laws for slaves and an African passport design. Nazi Germany never approached the realization of its colonial dreams.
Aside from being socially isolated, some Africans in Germany were subject to compulsory sterilization or rendition to concentration camps.
The end of World War II brought Allied occupation forces onto German soil of which numerous soldiers were of African American, Afro-Caribbean or African descent. Until recently, there have been more than 100,000 U.S. soldiers stationed on German soil. These men established their lives in Germany and either brought families with them or founded new ones with German wives and children.
From the late 1980s and onwards, Germany experienced large numbers of political asylum seekers and immigrants from African states.
For more information see Immigration to Germany.
The cultural life of Afro-Germans has multifarious aspects and strive in its variety and complexity. With the emerge of MTV and Viva an increased globalized "ethnicifiation" of mainly American pop culture further promoted Afro-German representation in German media and culture.
Black African musicians in Germany include:
The SFD - Schwarze Filmschaffende in Deutschland (Black Artists in German Film, literally Black Filmmakers in Germany) is a professional association based in Berlin for directors, producers, screenwriters, and actors who are Afro-Germans or of Black African origin and living in Germany.
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