| Hans Massaquoi |
Article Index for Hans |
Website Links For Hans |
Information About ™Hans Massaquoi |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HANS MASSAQUOI | |
| living people | |
| 1926 births | |
| people from hamburg | |
| german-americans | |
| afro-germans | |
| journalists | |
| liberian-germans | |
|
BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT In his in all of Nazi Germany , shunned, but not persecuted by the Nazis. This dichotomy remained a key theme throughout his whole life. Hans lived a simple, but happy childhood with his loving mother. His father, a Liberian diplomat in Germany, had left the family when he was very young. The daily life of little Hans was quite remarkable. He was one of the only black children in Nazi Germany , and like all the other kids his age, he dreamed of joining the Hitler Youth . But more and more, he realized the true nature of Nazism. His skin color made him a target for Racist abuse. But, in contrast to German Jew s or German Roma , Hans - as a German Negro - was not persecuted. He was "just" a second-class citizen, which was actually a blessing in disguise. During World War II , his "impurity" spared him from being drafted into the German army. As unemployment, hunger and poverty grew rampant, he even tried to enlist, but was rejected by the officers. In 1947 Hans was able to visit Liberia, and was fascinated and shocked by its raw, rural nature. He grew estranged from his father Al-Hajj, who left his mother and who came across as arrogant and tyrannic. After that, he immigrated to the United States. He served two years in the army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division . With his GI bill he studied journalism at the University Of Illinois followed by a career at Ebony Magazine where he became managing editor. Over the years he has visited Germany many times. He says it's still his homeland. EXTERNAL LINKS Massaquoi went on to start a family in America, and his nephew, Andrew Massquoi, was arrested in June 2004 for attempted arson of a local grocery store. |
|
|