Black History Month

Black History Month takes place in October every year and promotes understanding of black cultural history and legacy as well as celebrating the contributions of black people to British society.

Black History Month has its origins in Carter G. Woodson’s establishment of a celebration of African-American achievements in 1926. Woodson chose the month of February to highlight the contributions of African-Americans to US society, and Black History Month is still celebrated annually in that month in the United States today.

Many black people who lives in Germany under the Nazi regime were persecuted and murdered. The Nazis saw black people as a threat to their idea of a pure Germanic race. Propaganda was used alongside legislation which marginalised black people living in Germany. You can read more about how black people were persecuted by the Nazis during October for Black History Month, here.

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Nazi Persecution - Black people

Many black people who lived in Germany under the Nazi regime were persecuted, alienated and murdered during this period. The Nazis viewed them as a threat to the purity of the Germanic race. Nazi propaganda posters, showing friendship across racial groups, referred to ‘a loss of racial pride.’

Nazi Persecution

In addition to singling out Jews for complete annihilation, the Nazis targeted for discrimination and persecution, anyone they believed threatened their ideal of a ‘pure Aryan race’.

Rise of the Nazi party

The success of Hitler and the Nazi party did not come from nowhere. The party developed and established itself in a Germany devastated by defeat in World War One and suffering an economic crisis.