logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2019
8m 58s

Being black in Nazi Germany

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Theodor Wonja Michael was a child when Hitler came to power in Germany. The son of a German mother and a Cameroonian father he faced discrimination and danger under Nazi rule. He has been speaking to Caroline Wyatt about how working as a film actor helped him to survive World War Two.

Photo: Theodor Wonja Michael at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2013. Credit: Alamy

Up next
Today
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Yesterday
Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies
In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. Two founding members of the campaign group, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, were asking for his help to find their kidnappe ... Show More
10m 41s
Jul 8
The mystery of Evita’s corpse
When Eva Peron, Argentina's most famous First Lady, died in 1952, her body was embalmed. Three years later, her widower, Juan Peron, was deposed in a coup. But military officers feared her corpse would become a rallying point of protest against the new government. So they stole i ... Show More
10m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2017
EP1 Imperial Germany vs Nazi Germany
Dan once said that he thought Germany's First World War military was superior to Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht. He is often asked to elaborate, so he does in this show (note:this “pilot” show was previously posted on YouTube) Notes: The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I by Niall Fer ... Show More
52m 4s
Nov 2020
'I just wanted to be white'
In the immediate aftermath of World War Two, thousands of children were born to white German women and black American soldiers who were stationed in Allied-occupied Germany. The mixed-race infants were viewed with contempt by many Germans and endured constant abuse and racism. Bl ... Show More
10m 34s
Jan 2024
409. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's War on the Jews (Part 6)
As Hitler ramps up the German war machine, he remains obsessed with one idea: uprooting Jews from the Reich. The Nazis embark on a campaign of totalitarian oppression against them, persecuting Jewish people in every aspect of life. They are excluded from most professions, forbidd ... Show More
53m 48s
Jan 2024
405. The Nazis in Power: The Nuremberg Rallies (Part 2)
“We did not lose the war because our artillery gave out, but because the weapons of our mind didn’t fire”In September 1934, the Nazis held their sixth annual party conference in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg. The location held a symbolic resonance for the party, being not only t ... Show More
55m 5s
Jan 2024
410. The Nazis in Power: The Night of Broken Glass (Part 7)
By November 1938 the scene in Germany was at its darkest yet, as the full scale of Hitler’s intentions for the Jewish population of the German Reich was becoming evermore apparent. As the threat of another world war increased, so the Nazi anti-semitism machine went up a gear. Syn ... Show More
46m 44s
Jan 2024
406. The Nazis in Power: Hitler’s Road to War (Part 3)
“No one can doubt that this world will one day be the scene of dreadful struggles for existence on the part of mankind. In the end, the instinct of self-preservation alone will triumph.”Hitler has been planning for war since 1928. However, the Treaty of Versailles has placed imme ... Show More
1h 1m
Jan 2021
Hitler's beer hall putsch
Hitler made his first attempt at seizing power in Germany in 1923, ten years before he eventually became Chancellor. The failed "beer hall putsch" - so named because it started in a beer hall in the southern city of Munich - would become a foundational part of the Nazis' self-myt ... Show More
49m 58s
Dec 2023
Nazi Germany: the myth of the innocent bystander
In 1945, after defeat in the Second World War, many Germans claimed to have known nothing about what had happened to their fellow Jewish citizens – and with that, the idea of the ‘innocent bystander’ was born. But just how true was this claim? Delving into a rich archive of perso ... Show More
37m 18s
Dec 2020
Adolf Hitler: The War Years
At the beginning of 1940 Germany was at the pinnacle of its power. By May 1945 Hitler was dead and Germany had suffered a disastrous defeat. Hitler had failed to achieve his aim of making Germany a super power and had left her people to cope with the endless shame of the Holocaus ... Show More
56m 21s
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami