17 Facts About Hans Massaquoi

Hans-Jurgen Massaquoi was a German-American journalist and author.

Hans Massaquoi was born in Hamburg, Germany, to a German mother and a Liberian father of Vai ethnicity, the grandson of Momulu Massaquoi, the consul general of Liberia in Germany at the time.

Hans Massaquoi's autobiography Destined to Witness: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany was published in 1999.

Hans Massaquoi later published a second autobiography, only in German: Hanschen klein, ging allein: Mein Weg in die Neue Welt.

Hans Massaquoi's autobiography provides a unique point of view: he was one of the very few German-born children of German and African descent.

Hans Massaquoi enjoyed a relatively happy childhood with his mother, Bertha Baetz, who had arrived in Hamburg from Nordhausen and earlier from Uftrungen.

Hans Massaquoi's father, Al-Haj Massaquoi, was a prince of the Vai people who was in Dublin studying law and only occasionally lived with the family at the consul general's home in Hamburg.

Hans Massaquoi was not aware of any other mixed race children in Hamburg, and like most German children his age he was lured by Nazi propaganda into thinking that joining the Hitler Youth was an exciting adventure of fanfares and games.

The chart was filled in after each boy joined, until Hans Massaquoi was pointedly the sole student left out.

Hans Massaquoi was taken to the police station as he was believed to be "on the prowl for defenseless women or looking for an opportunity to steal".

Increasingly as he matured, Hans Massaquoi came to despise Hitler and Nazism.

However, the two reconciled just before his father's death which preceded Hans Massaquoi's reconnecting with his maternal family in the United States.

Hans Massaquoi served two years in the army as a paratrooper in the US 82nd Airborne Division and fought in the Korean War.

Hans Massaquoi's position allowed him to interview many historical figures of the arts, politics and civil rights movement in America and Africa.

Hans Massaquoi was interviewed in turn by Studs Terkel for his oral history The Good War, and related his unique experiences in Germany under the Nazi government.

At the time of his death, Hans Massaquoi was married to Katharine Rousseve Hans Massaquoi.

Hans Massaquoi had two sons by a previous marriage, Steve and Hans Jr.