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Germany's Black Holocaust, 1890-1945: The Untold Truth!

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With the release of more and more information concerning the African American contribution to past military actions involving the United States, one issue that has been overlooked by many is the issue of the Black involvement in the Holocaust. Not only from a point of view of the liberation of the Nazi death camps by Black U. S. soldiers, but the deaths of Black German citizens in some of those same camps.

A new work released earlier in 2003 might turn out to be a major point of discussion among historians in the New Year and beyond. "Germany's Black Holocaust 1890-1945: The Untold Truth!" by Firpo W. Carr, PhD is going to keep you turning the pages with interest, curiosity, and wonder (2003, STIR Inc. Publishing, 254 pages).

It has long been an established fact that there were other peoples and nationalities and political prisoners who were held in camps such as Dachau. However, there have been two things missing from some of the discussions: 1) How many of these individuals were of African/German-African backgrounds, and; 2) How did the Nazis treat Black U.S. Military personnel as Prisoners Of War.

Carr set out to fulfill a quest, which, in turn, filled a rather large hole in the historical issues involved in the Holocaust: What of the impact and suffering extracted by the Nazi war machine on other peoples--especially peoples of color--who were rounded up and imprisoned by German authorities during World War II? Carr, based upon his research, noted that some 8,000 Blacks were liberated from the death camps--some of the liberating forces were Black US soldiers.

Carr scanned the historical records available to him in various Holocaust museums, visited Germany and other parts of the world, and talked with those who are still alive, including Black soldiers who helped to liberate some of the death camps, who had previously NOT been interviewed, on the record, by US or other World War II participants. What may be of particular interest are Carr's inclusion of some of the WW II Nazi propaganda photos, along with history of the famed 761 Tank Battalion and their involvement in the Battle of the Bulge.

"Germany's Black Holocaust 1890-1945" gives one another portrait of our involvement in World War II and the Holocaust. This work makes it clear that others suffered during those war years, and their stories are finally starting to come to light.

This information is extremely important and mostly unknown except to historians. The problem is that the author jumps around across time, continents and topics. If one were to stick to the atrocities committed by colonial Germany in Namibia alone, it would have been enough to fill a book . Unfortunately, the author rather chose to cover this topic as well as: 1) The fate of Black citizens in Nazi Germany, 2)The Black experience in Nazi death camps, 3) The treatment of Black GI's in World War II and 4) The Tuskegee Airmen ! He might have been able to cover all of this if these topics were organized into chapters or even time periods but alas they are not. As such the book is very difficult to follow and digest. One can feel the enthusiasm of the author as he tries to convey important facts but it is much too much to assimilate. It deserves a re-write with more facts, less emotion and a more organized approach. All of these stories must be told but not in one book.

I just completed the book, "Germany's Black Holocaust". Captivating! I'd put it in the category of classic because the information does a service to the community. I read it in record time for me and couldn't put it down! I love the parallels and connections drawn between the US and Germany...the propagandist cartoons shown from the era are all so enlightening. Also, I was not aware of the stellar record of the Tuskegee Airmen...there's so much to learn from this phenomenal work! I'm sure the author has experienced just seeing the looks on people's faces when they look at the picture on the cover...smiles turn to frowns and questions automatically are voiced. The political statement made just with the title stirs the soul. The author's careful selection of words is especially noteworthy...coverage of revolts was SO refreshing! Hogan's Heroes???!???!!!! I grew up watching reruns...without a clue to the subliminal messages being sent. The "Bedfellows" chapters are an arresting/shocking climax to the whole book. The author is a GREAT writer! I was always eager to get to the next chapter because of the teaser he had at the end of the previous chapter. This work is great on so many levels with all the right amounts of all the right ingredients. I highly recommend this for home schoolers or high school history classes. I thank him so much for dedicating his research to this. As a Black bookstore owner, it is so refreshing to review/read a new book of such quality PARTICULARLY these days when there's an overdose of Blaxploitation books on frivolous fantasy, frolic or filth being pushed specifically in the Black community! Our African Perspective Book Club members really enjoyed "Germany's Black Holocaust" as well. There was a very stimulating discussion that resulted. The resources cited were also so extensive which allows the reader easy access to another world of information. I thank him again and again.

Nzingha
Afri-Ware .....

This book tells about the largely unknown victims of Hitler's holocaust, Blacks. It also explains in clear language a major reason for the holocaust (especially pages 102-1310). In one word, a central factor was Darwinism. As support for his conclusion, Dr. Carr quotes from the Holocaust Memorial Museum report (page 196-213) which makes it clear how important Darwinism was as a causative factor. Eugenics was not then regarded as a pseudoscience, but was fully accepted by most all scientists. The Nazis just applied the then orthodox science to government, and went far beyond the United States. That Blacks were regarded as inferior by Darwinists is obvious (just look at modern pictures of our primitive ancestors on the cover of National Geographic, Time and other popular magazines. They typically look very much like African Americans, rarely like Swedes). Carr does a good job exposing the racism in Darwinism eugenics and the harm it has caused historically. He includes many case histories. Carr's book makes a major contribution to the area but much more needs to be done in this field.

I found this book at my local library and was estatic. I needed the book for the framework of a research project on black victims of the Holocaust (World War II, not what the author discusses in the first chapter). This book seemed to have everything I needed.

Except that it didn't.

On the one hand, it has a lot of good resources in the back for conducting your own research if you want to. It also has some pictures that are important to doing your own research. Sadly, these points are the only positive one I have because this book is half-formed, unfinished, and poorly edited.

For one, a book on the Holocaust should not misspell "Adolf Hitler" and "Holocaust". I'm sure this is an unspoken rule and these are the most blaring of the spelling errors. Two, there are some historical inaccuracies (as another reviewer brought up) that will derail your reading if you know them and your research if you use this book as a source. Three, this book's subject matter is very inflammatory as it's still not been fully acknowledged in the WWII community but that doesn't mean it should be presented in an angry matter. The author's tone throughout the entire book is one of anger (if not down right hatred) and confusion when it should be like a scholar's actually should be. Without controlling the tone, the readers will be very quick to dismiss the subject matter, even if there is good evidence. Which brings me to my last point: the evidence either is too little, incorrect, or non-existant. When a book outright tells you "well, I have no clue what happened to people at that period" and then doesn't theorize why that is or give you example of multiple accounts in order to create a framework of what could have happened, then the book is not worth your time.

In conclusion, the book helped me by giving me some resources to look at. However, it's not worth it. Please go read Hitler's Black Victims by Clarence Lusane instead.

History is not complete and cannot be fully understood until all facets are revealed. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in a deeper examination of the holocaust. I would also recommend it for anyone interested in the human relations profession.

A fascinating read, and an important contribution to a little-known subject. All the facts given are footnoted. I had previously heard of Hans Massaqoui, who was interveiwed extensively in Studs Terkel's best-seller "The Good War." The author however, tries to jump between too many subject areas, including the fate of blacks in Germany and in its concentration camps, the USAAF Tuskegee Airmen, the colonial atrocities in Namibia, Africa, the possible Jewish roots of certain Nazi's, the USA's Nation of Islam (Black Muslim) sect, and even Boy Scouts founder Lord Baden-Powell (who had no connection with Germany). If he's including Baden-Powell's British atrocities, then he should mention the far worse bloodbaths in the Belgian Congo in which literally millions of natives were killed (this was covered in the best-seller "King Leopold's Ghost"). Also, nearly every page has a misspelling, grammatical error, or omitted word - a proofreader would have helped.

This book is superb, and is an excellent resource for teachers, in particular. Teachers are required to teach about the holocaust at least twice a year (January and April). The information from this book can be inserted into the curriculum at these times.

There are many ways to do this in interdisciplinary thematic units on the Holocaust. English, History, Social Studies, Black Studies, Black History and Creative Writing teachers can all collaborate to produce based on this information during either Black History month or in January when the Holocaust is typically taught.

School libraries can also purchase this book, so that it is available for students to use for book reports. It can even be used as the basis for teaching students to write and produce plays based on the content of the book. Finally, the books content can be used for exercises in conducting research on various aspects of the topic on the Internet.

Again, it is a great resource!!

There are so many false statements and outright lies. This is just a lump of anti-semitic filth. Who ever heard of a German tiger-shark tank? What German tank regiment in 1944 had 135 tanks? German tanks with 10-12 men? There is no documentation, only write what you like. Most sources are anonymous or crack pots who are listed here. German General Rommel was sent to North Africa to take back the WW1 German colonies! What utter nonsense. The author has little knowledge of history. Perhaps the author wants to jump on the law suit band wagon.