Invisible Woman: Growing Up Black in Germany

This was my second time reading this book. The first time i read it, I simply thought, " another tragic mullatto",. There are so many stories about biracial children with identity problems, and frankly, I can't realate to their perceived tragic lives. Now,as an adult who has lived in Boston and traveled throughout Europe, this story is definitely enlightening. Sometimes, AA think that being black in America is so hard and perceived racism is in every slight or insensitive remark. However, her story is truly a story of real, not imagined racism, nothing most AA, even during that time could possibly know. We know racism, but to experience the kind of instituional racism from family members like the author did, is incomprehensible, and to do it alone is unbelievable. We have always had entire communities of people who we can share stories of racism and triumphs with, she had absolutely no one, not even her mother was strong enough to protect her from the cruelty of her environment. She is defintely a hero, to have survived and not feel hatred toward an entire country. What a courageous, strong forgiving person. This should be required reading for every student.

This is the only book that ever made me shed a tear. All I can say is "READ IT!" It's a truly inspiring story.

I read this book in the original German edition and thus don't know how well the English edition conveys this example of a very 'German' post-war destiny. Ika was a "Besatzungskind" - a very negative and subjective term for a child born to a German mother and a (most commonly) G.I. father from the "occupation forces". Her story is just one of a whole babyboomer generation of both white,and mixed-race children, and what a sad story it is, particulary of those little "Black Germans"! Ika's coerced removal from her mother and placement into a Christian institution was a common occurance for 'illegitimate' children of any description. The mothers of Black children were seen as nothing more than whores who were not fit to raise the children they should not have had in the first place. The racially motivated mental and physical abuse that Ika endured makes for painful reading - particularly since the abuse was carried out (as it often is)in the name of Christ and for her salvation. That Ika managed to grow up into the strong, beautiful person she is today is a testimony to her strength of character and indomitable spirit. I was so happy for her that she did manage to find her father and come to terms with her struggle over identity. With the growth in recent years of Afro-German organisations I hope that many more stories like Ika's will be published. They will give voice to that previously invisible 'Stolen Generation' who now, in middle-age are finally given a change to come to terms with their unique history and identity.Postscript: As a white contemporary of Ika's I had many class/playmates who were black, with family backgrounds similar to hers. Certainly the Catholic institution (Jugenddorf Klinge in Seckach/Baden) were I spent some years, was not guilty of evil such as experienced by Ika. For a long time now I have wondered about the subsequent fates of my special friend Monika and the other girls I knew.

I read this book in the original German edition and thus don't know how well the English edition conveys this example of a very "German" post-war destiny. Ika was a 'Besatzungskind' a very negative and subjective term for a child born to a German mother and (most commonly) a G.I. father of the "occupation forces". Her story is just one of a whole babyboomer generation of both white, and mixed-race children - and what a sad story it is, particulary of those little "Black Germans"! Ika's coerced removal from her mother and placement into a Christian institution was a common occurance for 'illegitimate' children of any description. The mothers of Black children were seen as nothing more than whores who were not fit to raise the children they should not have had in the first place. The racially motivated mental and physical abuse that Ika endured makes for painful reading - particularly since the abuse was carried out (as it often was) in the name of Christ and for her salvation. That Ika grew strong, beautiful she is today is a testimony to her strength of character and indomitable spirit. I was so happy for her that she did manage to find her father and come to terms with her struggle over identity. With the growth in recent years of Afro-German associations I hope that many more stories like Ika's will be published. They will give voice to that previously invisible 'Stolen Generation' who now, in middle-age are finally given a change to come to terms with their unique identity.

Soon after I began reading Ms Marshall's book I experienced a thrill of recognition. In the brutally honest account of her child and early adulthood in Germany, her stories of recognizing and overcoming her internalized racial self-hatred, I remembered and re-lived some of my own similar experiences growing up as a light-skinned, adopted black child in the black community in Baltimore Maryland.Ms. Marshall's harsh treatment at the hands of the staff at the home she was sent to as a child sheds light on the brutal and uncaring treatment many children, especially children of color, still experience today. Her writing is both personal and informative (she quotes several government documents of her childhood that "institutionalized" the racist treatment of Afro-Germans) and draws the reader into her story so that one cannot help but become caught up with her as she tells it. I found it difficult to put it down.That she survived such a childhood and has become both a strong woman and outspoken opponent of racism in Germany, is a testement to her inner power and strength, as well as to the love she received from her mother before she was taken from her at the age of six years old.Ms. Marshall is still fighting the demons of racism in a country that carries its nationalism in it's breast pocket, as it were. It's not that bad in the US of A...yet.