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Witness History: 'I just wanted to be white'

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"I just wanted to be white"

03/11/2020 GMT

'I just wanted to be white'

BBC World Service - Witness History, 'I just wanted to be white'

Growing up as a black child in post-war Germany

How thousands of children born to African-American fathers and white German mothers at the end of WW2 faced rampant racism in post-war Germany.

In the immediate aftermath of World War Two, thousands of children were born to white German women and black American soldiers who were stationed in Allied-occupied Germany. The mixed-race infants were viewed with contempt by many Germans and endured constant abuse and racism. Black activist and author Ika Hügel-Marshall was one of the so-called "occupation babies". She tells Mike Lanchin about the painful struggle to discover her own identity as a result of the racism she experienced growing up black in post-war Germany.

Photo: Ika as a young girl (Courtesy of Ika Hügel-Marshall)

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