Edited by Kjersti Ericsson and Eva Simonsen · Berg, 2005 · English
Children of World War II: The Hidden Enemy Legacy brings together research on children whose family histories were shaped by war, occupation, racial ideology and contested national belonging. Its international perspectives make it a valuable resource for studying Black German postwar childhoods alongside related European histories.
Yara’s chapter on Black German children
Yara-Colette Lemke Muniz de Faria’s chapter, “Black German ‘Occupation’ Children: Objects of Study in the Continuity of German Race Anthropology” (pp. 249–265), traces connections between colonial racial research and studies of Black German children after 1945.
She examines Eugen Fischer’s research in Rehoboth, in present-day Namibia, and the continuing influence of Fischer and Wolfgang Abel on postwar racial anthropology. Her analysis shows how researchers treated white children as the norm and interpreted Black children’s differences through inherited racial characteristics, even while claiming to improve their welfare (pp. 250–259).
Why this matters for recognition and redress
Yara argues that prejudice surrounding the children was projected onto the children themselves. Scientific authority helped present German children as racially foreign and supported debates about adoption abroad, separate institutions and integration (pp. 258–259). The chapter provides a documented basis for examining institutional responsibility and the afterlives of colonial racial thinking.
The Rehoboth community and the Ovaherero and Nama peoples targeted in the genocide are distinct. Connecting these histories does not equate genocide with adoption, establish identical legal remedies, or determine the circumstances of every individual placement.
Read alongside
Black German Postwar Adoption History · Recognition and Redress
Find the book
Publisher details and available editions at Bloomsbury
Bibliographic details
Ericsson, Kjersti, and Eva Simonsen, editors. Children of World War II: The Hidden Enemy Legacy. Berg, 2005. Paperback ISBN: 978-1-84520-207-1; hardback ISBN: 978-1-84520-206-4.
This entry recommends the book as a research resource; it does not indicate physical holdings in BGHRA’s Special Collection.
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