Hans Massaquoi

Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi (January 19, 1926 – January 19, 2013 ) was a German-Americo-Liberian journalist and author. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, to a German mother and a Liberian father of Vai ethnicity, the grandson of Momulu Massaquoi, the consul general of Liberia in Germany at the time.

His autobiography Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany was published in 1999 (in English). Its German translation was published the same year, as Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger: Meine Kindheit in Deutschland. The title references a racist rhyme with which schoolboys taunted him in 1932. The German version was adapted as a film (2006). He later published a second autobiography, only in German: Hänschen klein, ging allein: Mein Weg in die Neue Welt (2004).

Life

Hans Jurgen Massaquoi was born January 19, 1926. His father Al- Haj Massaquoi was a prince of the Vai people, and was the son of a Liberian businessman, Momolu Massaquoi, who served as the first African general consul to Hamburg. Massaquoi's mother was Bertha Baetz, a German domestic worker and nurse, who had arrived in Hamburg from Nordhausen and earlier from Uftrungen.

His parents never married and after Massaquoi's birth, his father returned to Ireland to finish his law studies at Trinity College. Massaquoi and his mother was taken in by his grand-father to live at the consulate at 22 Johnsallee in Rotherbaum.

Massaquoi enjoyed a relatively happy childhood with his mother. His father would only occasionally live with the family at the consul general's home in Hamburg. Eventually, his grandfather Momulu, was recalled to Liberia. Hans Massaquoi and his mother remained in Germany.

Massaquoi was not aware of any other mixed race children in Hamburg, and like most German children his age he was lured by Nazi propaganda into thinking that joining the Hitler Youth was an exciting adventure of fanfares and games. There was a school contest to see if a class could get a 100% membership of the Deutsches Jungvolk, a subdivision of Hitler Youth, and Massaquoi's teacher devised a chart on the blackboard showing who had joined and who had not. The chart was filled in after each boy joined, until Massaquoi was pointedly the sole student left out. He recalled saying, "But I am German ... my mother says I'm German just like anybody else." Massaquoi expected humiliation. Instead, he was surprised when he was greeted with "a friendly wink", offered a seat and asked to present something he had made. After showing Von Vett an axe and discussing his experience working for a local blacksmith, Massaquoi was informed that he could "be of great service to Germany one day" because there would be a great demand for technically trained Germans to go to Africa to train and develop an African workforce when Germany reclaimed its African colonies. Before Massaquoi left the interview, Von Vett invited him to shake his hand, an unusual move not in keeping with the behavior of other Nazi officials Massaquoi had encountered outside of his neighborhood.

Though he was barred from dating "Aryans", Massaquoi courted a white girl. They had to keep their relationship a secret, especially as her father was a member of the police and the SS. Such relationships were forbidden and classified as Rassenschande (race defilement) under the Nuremberg Laws. They met only in the evenings, when they would go for walks. As he dropped his girlfriend off at her house one night, he was stopped by a member of the SD, the intelligence branch of the SS. He was taken to the police station as he was believed to be "on the prowl for defenseless women or looking for an opportunity to steal". However, he was recognized by a police officer as living in the area and working: "This young man is an apprentice at Lindner A.G., where he works much too hard to have enough energy left to prowl the streets at night looking for trouble. I happen to know that because of the son of one of my colleagues apprentices with him."