Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany

by Hans J. Massaquoi

Book Overview

This is a story of the unexpected.In Destined to Witness, Hans Massaquoi has crafted a beautifully rendered memoir -- an astonishing true tale of how he came of age as a black child in Nazi Germany. The son of a prominent African and a German nurse, Hans remained behind with his mother when Hitler came to power, due to concerns about his fragile health, after his father returned to Liberia. Like other German boys, Hans went to school; like other...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060959614
• ISBN13: 9780060959616
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Great Read

I read a lot of books (2 a week or so). This book was one of the best that I have ever read, partly because I could identify with the author. Hans was a black growing up in Nazi Germany, I was a white Jehovah's Witness growing up in America in the 1950s. Hans encountered much bigotry but also had much support from many kind teachers and friends. The many acts of kindness and fair treatment in the book was heart warming. I relived much of my childhood as I read, wishing I had experienced the support that Hans did (I remember being called a communist, a Nazi, and a fundamentalist by teachers and fellow students due to my religion). In contrast, Hans had only 2 really bad teachers and many good ones. Although most Jehovah's Witnesses ended up in the concentration camps in Nazi Germany, this book made me realize that I would rather have been a black in Naziland than a Witness in America. I left the Witnesses 30 years ago, but the mistreatment that resulted from my involvement with them still lives on (as does some of the experiences that Hans lived). Hans left Germany and ended up in the United States and was then able to escape his past to some degree, although he still had problems here (in contrast, my religion was the subject of endless discussion even long after I formally resigned from the Watchtower). Of course, with religion one has the advantage that one can leave the church, but Hans could not change his race. Nonetheless, as this book had a happy ending, it gave me hope that my story would too. It also gives hope in the belief that some people are very good at heart, even in Naziland. Maybe after reading this book a few more people will be less intolerant. I hope so.

Witness

Destined to Witness Hans Massaquoi ISBN 0-688-17155-9 1999"Destined to Witness" is the story of the son of a black Liberian diplomatic official and a white German woman growing up in Nazi times in Germany. Were this story not so convincingly told, one would have to question that the events of Mr. Massaquoi?s life could have really taken place. But they did take place. Not only did the author survive the Hitler years without being killed by the Nazis, but he survived 200 British and American bombing raids that destroyed half of the Hamburg?s homes, including his own, and killed 41,000 civilians. From this book, one learns not only about Massaquoi?s experience with racism in Germany in the Hitler era but about British and French colonial racism in Africa and racism in the United States in the South and in Chicago after the war. Hans Massaquoi would have us understand that these instances of racism were not unrelated.This book begins with Hans Massaquoi?s early schoolboy experiences growing up in Hamburg. It recounts the terrible racial taunting of pro-Nazi classmates and teachers. In one of his worst school episodes he tells how one teacher told him that after the Nazis had finished with the Jews they would take care of the likes of him. Massaquoi, growing up in the German culture, wanted to be like the other boys to a certain extent. At one point, he was rejected for admission to the Hitler Youth Corp on the basis of his race. Although initially Hitler was a hero to him, later he came to understand more clearly what Hitler represented. This book describes a number of interesting historical events that Massaquoi witnessed. For example, one was the day the airship Hindenburg flew over his neighborhood in Hamburg, casting its giant shadow over the street on which he lived and all the people who gathered there to see it. In another place, the author describes the aftermath of Kristallnacht in November 1938, the first, Nazi-ordered, countrywide rampage against the Jews. Sidewalks along Hamburg?s main shopping avenue, on both sides, for miles, were covered with broken glass in front of windowless stores where all the merchandise had been looted. The author attributes his own survival through this period to the fact that there were few blacks in the Germany of that time, and Hitler?s executioners initially focused their efforts on the Jews. Fortunately, Hitler was defeated before he could finish his ultimate goal of racial purification. Also, Mr. Massaquoi attributes his survival to the fact that, even in these dark hours, there were many Germans who retained their decency after it had ?gone totally out of style?. To these people, whose refusal to go along with the prevailing racism of the day, he gives recognition.Massaquoi eventually came to the U.S. after the war, served in the army, attended college on the G. I. bill, marched with Martin Luther King, served as the managing editor of "Ebony" magazine and met American presidents.This book present

Destined for greatness!

I am not an avid reader of biographies, but this particular book was too enticing to pass up. I was not disappointed at all. If you are intrigued about the Nazi era, Hitler's rise to power, or how minorities coped with that, then this is definitely the book for you! From his very first memories of childhood, and right through the end of the war, I almost could not put it down. His real life story was better than any fiction book could have been. He describes: surroundings, family, friends, and unpleasant situations in such excellent detail that you really feel like you are there with him. Moreover, the story flows so smoothly you don't feel like you are missing anything, nor does the book drag along either. I have to admit that before I read this book I had no idea there were ANY blacks living in Germany at that time, and if I imagined there had been, then I thought surely they wouldn't have survived. Obviously this book blew that misconception of mine right out of the water. I was actually surprised that he was treated as decently as he was by some of his fellow citizens and neighbors. Going by this book it looks like blacks might have been treated worse in the Jim Crow South, than in some areas of Nazi Germany, ironic given the principles each country was fighting for. My only drawback was that this book lost a little of its grab for me after the war was over, so it was slightly anticlimactic at that point. Nevertheless, that in no way diminishes my overall satisfaction with this very inspiring story. Therefore, I cannot give it anything less than the full 5 stars.

Hans J. Massaquoi Growing up as a Black in Nazi Germany

What a wonderful book I truly enjoyed reading it. I am German, 44 years, my son is German 25 years with a Afro American father. I raised him in Germany and he is a true black German.We experienced together racism and I saw ourselves a lot in this book.Today we live in the USA and sadly he learned much more about racism here than ever before in his life.I am saddened by the thought that his goal is to go back to Germany because of these reasons - this is just to show you how times have changed. I hope for all of us that my beautiful brown babies my grandchildren that I will have one day never will have to experience anything like Hans or Frederick Douglass.

Unusual memoirs

I live in Hamburg, Germany and have read this book in german. It is poignant, and at times very funny. It's also an inspiring book, for it offers the rather unique glimpse of an intelligent boy who is confronted with rampant racism and learns to survive it.