Negroes in Nazi Germany

In Nazi Germany, negroes were employed in various parts of the entertainment industry, such as film studios and touring ethnic shows like the Hillerkus Afrikaschau circuses. By 1940 these operations had been taken over by the SS, who converted them to serve propaganda purposes.

For instance, Propaganda minister Josef Goebbels realized that in order to spread the Nazi Gospel of white Aryan supremacy, he needed to exploit the most popular entertainment medium of the time — German feature films. Propaganda pictures such as Kongo Express, Quax in Africa, and Auntie Wanda from Uganda were made to present Germany as an enlightened, benevolent colonial power. Thus under Nazi control the film industry provided employment for Black Germans.

As Black actor Werner Egoimue explains, “We had an agent then, who had all the addresses of Black people in Berlin. The Reich's Chamber of Commerce was in touch with him, and when they were casting a film, it was fun—inside the studio ... you were as safe as in a bank.”

See: World History Archives