Brown Babies
"Brown Babies" is a term used for children born to 'black' soldiers and 'white' European women during and after World War II. In Germany they were known as "mischlingskinder". As of 1955 African-American soldiers in Germany had about 5,000 mischlingskinder,[1] making up a significant minority of the 37,000 illegitimate children of US soldiers overall.[2] In the United Kingdom, West Indian members of the British forces as well as African-American US soldiers also had "brown babies".[3][4]
Germany
Because inter-racial marriages were strongly discouraged in the United States in the era, commanding officers of the U.S. soldiers forced many of the couples to split. The mothers had difficulty finding support for their children, due to discrimination against both black people and single mothers. Many of the children were put up for adoption and placed with black military families in Germany and the United States.[5] Most "brown babies" lived with their mothers, who decided not to have them adopted. One German woman established a special home for thirty "brown babies."[6] By 1968 Americans adopted about 7,000 "brown babies." Many of the "brown babies" were not aware of their ethnic backgrounds until they reached adulthood.[7]
The Mischlingskinder Story, a documentary, was released in the northern hemisphere summer of 2011. In the northern hemisphere of 2011 Brown Babies: Germany's Lost Children (Brown Babies - Deutschlands verlorene Kinder) aired on German television.[7]
See also
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Germany portal |
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African American portal |
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Military history portal |
References
- ^ Camp & Grosse, p. 61.
- ^ Kleinschmidt, Johannes. "http://www.lpb-bw.de/publikationen/besatzer/us-pol6.htm Amerikaner und Deutsche in der Besatzungszeit - Beziehungen und Probleme".
- ^ Wynn, Neil A. "'Race War': Black American GIs and West Indians in Britain During The Second World War". Immigrants & Minorities 24 (3), pp. 324–346. 2006. DOI: 0.1080/02619280701337146.
- ^ Lee, Sabine. "A Forgotten Legacy of the Second World War: GI children in post-war Britain and Germany". Contemporary European History 20, pp. 157–181. 2001. DOI: 10.1017/S096077731100004X.
- ^ "'Brown babies' long search for family, identity." CNN. November 20, 2011. Retrieved on November 22, 2011.
- ^ "Brown Babies Adopted By Kind German Families." Jet. Johnson Publishing Company, November 8, 1951. Vol. 1, No. 2. 15. Retrieved from Google Books on November 22, 2011. ISSN 0021-5996.
- ^ a b Desmond-Harris, Jenée. "German 'Brown Babies' Search for Their Roots." The Root. November 21, 2011. Retrieved on November 22, 2011.
References
- Campt, Tina; Grosse, Pascal. "'Mischlingskinder in Nachkriegsdeutschland': Zum Verhältnis von Psychologie, Anthropologie und Gesellschaftspolitik nach 1945". Psychologie und Geschichte 6 (1–2), pp. 48–78.
- Fehrenbach, Heide. Race after Hitler: Black Occupation Children in Postwar Germany and America. Princeton University Press 2005. ISBN 978-0-691-11906-9.
- Reker, Judith. "Schauen, wie das ist, deutsch zu sein." Die Wochenzeitung. November 10, 2011.
- Wahl, Niko. "Nachkriegsgeschichte: Heim ins Land der Väter." Die Zeit. December 29, 2010.
External links