"Black Soldiers in the Wehrmacht" Topic

A few weeks ago, someone posted a photo of a black soldier in WWII German uniform. The curious subject was discussed but, I think, not explained. Someone suggested that the man wore the uniform of a Luftwaffe sergeant.

Well. I just stumbled across this:

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I think it's the same guy in this photo. The explanation may be that he was a member of Haj Amin al-Husseini's (deposed Mufti of Jerusalem, Yasser Arafat's uncle) Free Arabian Legion. This was a small and obscure formation that served the Reich in North Africa. If the Germans had broken into Egypt and Palestine, al-Husseini's Legion might have served as the nucleus of a larger Arab auxiliary force.

Treatment of blacks under the Nazi Reich could be capricious. The American-born jazz singer Josephine Baker lived unmolested in Paris throughout the war. Her performances were popular with German soldiers. She was even able to take an active role in the French Resistance.

For those who are interested, this is an informative book:

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Hitler's complaint against Jesse Owens was not so much that an inferior race beat his Supermen (there was that too) but that the mongrel nations (USA! USA! USA!) would stoop so low as to use black athletes.
If he were alive today, it would kill him.

Zippy and 79thPA,

Very interesting, thanks.

Jim

Erhard Milch was half-Jewish, but that didn't stop him from becoming a field marshal in the Luftwaffe:

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But then, what's a little hypocrisy to a bunch of mass murderers?

Actually Owens said Hitler was polite and complimentary about his performance during the olympics. But when he (Owens) got back to the States, he was not allowed to attend the celebration dinners unless he entered buildings through the rear entrances.

And he still couldn`t use "white only" bathrooms or ride at the front of trolly-cars or buses :-(

Folk of colour were not treated equally in the "Land of the Free" even after winning Olympic medals :-(

I read that about Milch. He was not opposed to engaging in a few war crimes, himself.

Opera singer Marian Anderson was refused permission to sing in Independence Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939 (possibly because the audience was supposed to be integrated, rather than simply having a black performed). It became a cause celebe and she ended up singing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 75,000, with millions listening on radio, far more that even would have heard here otherwise. :)

YouTube link to the performance: YouTube link

Eleanor Roosevelt and many others resigned from the DAR other the refusal (the DAR had desperately tried to backpedal, without success).

The Germans were under orders during the Olympics to treat all foreigners politely no matter race. Jesse Owens said he was treated better in Germany than in the US even when he returned.

The Nazis could be extremely capricious:

"I will decide who is a Jew!" – Herman Goering, with regard to Erhard Milch.

Some Nazis greatly admired American racial segregation. One German scientist wrote an impassioned letter to the new Fuehrer, citing American laws encouraging the forced sterilization of 'social defectives' in prisons and mental hospitals. These laws were disproportionately applied to persons of mixed racial descent, and they continued in use until the 1960s. "The Americans are far ahead of us in racial science," he warned, "we only talk while they act." Soon after came the Nuremberg racial laws.

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"Three generations of idiots is enough." – Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his opinion supporting legally forced sterilization.

Sometimes we forget how far we have come in this country, and where we have come from. It might be pleasanter to forget, but we should remember.

"But then, what's a little hypocrisy to a bunch of mass murderers?"

Exactly, that's why Operation Paperclip was created without any real opposition.

Heydrich's father was Jewish too?

One of the Palestinian fighters crossed the Germans & ended up in a concentration camp alongside Jews, this didn't abate his dislike for them one bit & he went on to take a leading command in the fighting in '47-48

goering once said "i decide who is jewish". he protected many families of jews during the nazi years, right up to the end. including the jewish doctor who treated him after the beer hall putch.

Upon first learning about the Arab legion I was excited to paint them and get them into action until I discovered they did very little during the war.

I read that Jesse Owens kept a photograph of himself and Hitler in his wallet until the day he died. I have been trying to get hold of his autobiography "The man who outran Hitler" but unfortunately it isn't on sale here. I will have to pick it up when I take a foreign trip.

Somewhere I read about a researcher who uncovered people of Jewish descent who fought for Hitler. [Edit – Found it on the Jewish Telegraph Agency:]

"Thousands of soldiers and officers of Jewish descent fought in Hitler's armies, with his full approval, while their relatives were transported to extermination camps. In one instance, Hitler personally suspended his Nuremberg racial laws to designate a list of 77 high-ranking Wehrmacht officers of "mixed Jewish race or married to a Jew" as pure, German-blooded Aryans. The list included 15 generals"

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The German government co-operated with Zionists from 1933. Many Jewish people emigrated from Germany to Palestine. There was a direct Hamburg to Haifa (sea) service, with Kosher food on board. There were 40 Kibbutz in Germany, organised by Zionists with German help, to train Jewish people for their new life in Palestine. The last Kibbitz was still running in March 1942. The SS supplied Jewish settlers with weapons which were used in clashes with Arabs living in Palestine. The SS also helped smuggle Jewish settlers into Palestine when the British restricted immigration from 1937. Those smuggling operations would make interesting wargame scenarios.

A "transfer agreement" was signed in 1933 which fascilitated the emigration of German Jewish people to Palestine by allowing them to deposit money in Germany which was later obtained in Palestine as German export goods. This was despite the world wide Jewish economic boycott of Germany ("Judea declares war on Germany") from 1933.

Of course, German racial law forbade the marrage of Jewish people and Germans as Zippy mentions. Curiously, that suited Zionists. Today it is illegal in Israel for Jewish people to marry non-Jewish people. Israel was discovered to be forcing contraception on Ethiopian women in 2013. Plus ça change. Extremists gravitate towards power.