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Hans Massaquoi

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Publisher

The Resume

    (January 19, 1926-January 19, 2013)
    Born in Hamburg (Weimar Republic), Germany
    Birth name was Hans-Jurgen Massaquoi
    Former managing editor of Ebony Magazine
    Author of 'Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany' (1999)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was pampered as a child.
    He badly wanted to join the Hitler Youth and become a Nazi.
    He cajoled his baby-sitter into sewing a swastika onto his sweater at school.
    When his mother found out, she ripped it off, but a teacher had already taken a snapshot (the picture now has life on the Internet and made the cover of his book).
    He wrote that one of his saddest moments as a child was when his homeroom teacher told him he couldn’t join the Hitler Youth.
    He believed that he was able to avoid getting killed by the Nazis because: 'Unlike Jews, blacks were so few in numbers that they were relegated to low-priority status.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    His mother was a German nurse and his father the son of a Liberian diplomat.
    He grew to hate Nazism as he matured.
    His skin color made him a target for racist abuse in Germany.
    He was denied citizenship and he was excluded from serving in the armed forces (he couldn't even get regular work).
    He and his mother survived the near-destruction of Hamburg during the Operation Gomorrah bombing attack in the summer of 1943.
    He violated Germany's Nuremberg Laws by dating a white woman.
    He became a U.S. citizen, and was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War.
    He worked for Jet magazine before moving to Ebony, where he rose to managing editor.
    His life experience and autobiography is a fascinating story.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


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