Query:  Sources for Study of Black Soldiers in the Rhineland in the Weimar Republic January 1996

Submitted by: Marion F. Deshmukh (mdeshmuk@VMS1.GMU.EDU)
A colleague of mine is in the final stages of completing a biography of the African American intellectual Alain Locke. Locke spent considerable time in Germany and Austria during the first decades of the 20th century. Apparently he was commissioned to write a report on German complaints of French-African soldiers for the League of Nations or some other organization in 1922-23. He wrote a series of pieces for a journal named "Opportunity." My colleague (Jeffrey Stewart) was wondering if there are some articles and monographs on the subject of black soldiers in the Rhineland during Weimar and if there is additional information which would shed light on why an American would be commissioned to write on this topic. Whatever help the list members could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Marion Deshmukh
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 993-2149
e: mail-mdeshmuk@gmu.edu

Submitted by: Michael Kater (mkater@YorkU.CA)

The best article I know on the subject is by Sally Marks, "Black Watch on the Rhine: A Study in Propaganda, Prejudice and Prurience," European Studies Review 13 (1983), 297-334. George L. Mosse has written on several aspects of this issue in various of his publications, but I do not know of a full-scale monograph on this very important topic. I have a little bit on this in my Different Drummers book, as far as popular culture was concerned. In Germany, Reiner Pommerin has written about it from a medical-eugenic point of view in his book, "STERILISIERUNG DER RHEINLANDBASTARDE": DAS SCHICKSAL EINER FARBIGEN DEUTSCHEN MINDERHEIT," 1918-1937, Düsseldorf: Droste, 1979. More literature there and in Marks.

Michael H. Kater
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Submitted by: Raffael Scheck (rmscheck@COLBY.EDU)

The German government, supported by most Reichstag parties, filed a complaint with the League of Nations in reaction to some cases of rape and murder by France's African occupation troops. I do not know why Alain Locke as an American citizen wrote this report, but the United States probably were interested in the allegations because American troops occupied a neighboring Rhineland zone. The German charges were exaggerated and blind to the fact that the Africans behaved better than the soldiers from France.

I think the most useful source for your friend is an article by Gisela Lebzelter: "Die 'Schwarze Schmach': Vorurteile - Propaganda - Mythos." In Geschichte und Gesellschaft 11 (1 1985): 37-58.

To find about about the French rationale for employing colonial troops in Germany I recommend Marc Michel, "Colonisation et défense nationale. Le Général Mangin et la force noire." In Guerres mondiales et conflits contemporains 37 (145 1987): 27-44.

Easy to read with a dictionary is Th. J. Hooning, "De 'Zwarte Smaad' en zijn gevolgen." Spiegel Historiael 17 (1 1982): 8-12. Rainer Pommerin published a book on the sterilization of mixed-race children from the Rhineland (Sterilisierung der Rheinlandbastarde. Das Schicksal einer farbigen Minderheit 1918-1937. Duesseldorf: 1979.).

Raffael Scheck, Colby College

Submitted by: Michael Kater (mkater@YorkU.CA)

A poststcript to my earlier note, in view of Raffael Scheck's recent posting: "African" soldiers stationed in the Rhineland area by the French would have meant Senegalese (who, if I recall corerectly, according to some treaty clauses, were not supposed to be there). In fact, the proportion of "black" soldiers among the occupying French was very small, many of those actually not being Senegalese at all, but darkish Arabs from Morocco, etc. A considerable percentage was from French-ruled Indochina, which would have made them look more like the Chinese. It was a point purposely ignored by Nazi propagandists, who, like Hitler in his speeches of the time, acted as if they were all Blacks from Africa bent on raping German girls and women. Just another ploy by the Nazis to gain power.

Michael H. Kater
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Submitted by: Gerhard Weinberg (gweinber@email.unc.edu)

There is a book by Reiner Pommerin and there was an article by Sally Marks in the Journal of Modern History or the Journal of Contemporary History, both with lots of notes to the very extensive literature on this subject.

Gerhard Weinberg

Submitted by: Gerald R. Kleinfeld (Kleinfeld@asu.edu)

There is also an article on black soldiers in the Rhineland in the GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW in 1978.
 
 

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