Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

100 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
don’t recall any . . . of the people from the German community
actually helping us. 29
the resistance some of the Germans may have encountered when they
frst arrived in huntsville obviously did not make them feel as much solidarity
with the african american minority as apparently expected. 30 the expectation
on behalf of african american residents in huntsville may have been the
result of reports from Germany during the frst years of the allied occupation. 31
While the economic situation was still very dire for most Germans in Germany,
and the allied Occupation was still in full force immediately after the war,
many Germans reportedly treated african american soldiers quite cordially.
they were presumably responding to experiences with african american soldiers
who were generous and friendly despite their position of relative power
as occupying soldiers. the Germans’ friendliness was surprising for many
african american soldiers, who had heard horrifc stories about German racism
and who were still segregated in their military units as well as at home. the
German response was therefore reported as an unusual experience in african
american magazines and newspapers around the country, which may have left
the impression that Germans generally have a more favorable attitude towards
african americans and, therefore, more sympathy for their plight. 32
29. Ibid.
30 . Most of my German interviewees noted that they found very little antagonism, let alone resistance
to their arrival in huntsville. this perception has been confrmed by other interviewees who
were residents in huntsville at the time. I was told of a few incidents of outright animosity but
also that those sentiments seemed to dissipate quickly. I will address this phenomenon in more
detail in the larger project.
31. Sentiments towards black soldiers in Germany were indeed very diferent after World War
II, in contrast to World War I when nationalists interpreted France’s use of black soldiers
to occupy Germany as an added insult. after World War II, German attitudes towards
african americans varied and again became the focus of negative attention with the rise of
interracial children born to african american soldiers and German women. however, the
general impression seemed to be that Germany was less racist towards african american
soldiers. For a discussion of the impact of the american occupation on sentiments towards
american soldiers in the years immediately following the Second World War, see, John
Gimbel, A German Community under American Occupation: Marburg 1945-52 (Stanford, Ca:
Stanford University press, 1961). Maria höhn describes changing German attitudes towards
african-american soldiers following the war in GIs and Fräuleins: The German-American
Encounter in 1950s West Germany (Chapel hill, NC: University of North Carolina press,
2002). heide Fehrenbach and Yara-Colette Lemke Muniz de Faria have both published
important research on the treatment of interracial children born in postwar Germany.
heide Fehrenbach, Race after Hitler: Black occupation children in postwar Germany and America
(princeton, NJ: princeton University press, 2005); Yara-Colette Lemke Muniz de Faria,
Zwischen Fürsorge und Ausgrenzung: Afrodeutsche “Besatzungskinder” im Nachkriegsdeutschland
(Berlin: Metropol Verlag, 2002).
32. this perception was apparently still prevalent in the late 1950s. recalling his service in
Germany in 1958, General Colin powell once stated that “[for] black GIs, especially those