HISTORY
How the Nazis Mistreated Afro-Germans
A look at the persecution of Black people in Nazi Germany.
The era of Adolf Hitler as the Nazi Fuhrer is most significantly marked by the tragic Holocaust, where an estimated 6 million Jews were killed. However, as dark and devastating as the Holocaust was, the historical focus on the magnitude of the event often overshadows some of Hitler’s other atrocities.
Today, I’ll focus on the mistreatment of Africans in Germany under the Nazis and how, despite not being the primary target in Hitler’s crosshairs, they suffered incredibly harsh treatment at his hands.
The German-African Army Was Called the Schutztruppe
To understand the context of the mistreatment of Africans during Hitler’s era, we must understand how racism had already been deeply rooted in German society for centuries. The German Empire expanded its influence into Africa between the 17th and 19th centuries, colonizing various territories along the way.
A very common and accepted notion of the time was that only the white European man represented true civilization and progress, while Black people were seen as savages who needed to evolve in order to become more civilized.
