Talk:Rhineland Bastard

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute

One cannot talk about "the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute", since there were many institutes, each called "Kaiser Wilhelm Institute" for such-and-such a branch of science. (Today they are called "Max Planck Institutes".)

Sebastjan

The N-Word

Der Begriff Neger bezeichnet Menschen mit dunkler Hautfarbe und bestimmten anderen phänotypischen Merkmalen und wird heute meist abwertend verwendet. Er gilt als rassistisch[1] konnotiert[2].

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neger

Translation: The term Neger describes humans of dark skin color and certain other phenotypic traits and is today mostly used in a disparaging way. It is considered racist.

The word "Neger" once was a neutral term, just like the English one, but is no longer. Negro always was a neutral term and still is, and was used by people who surely did not hate blacks (MLK, for example). I am just trying to transmit the message that the term is more insulting than the article portrays it to be. 80.128.236.141 00:15, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it was once a neutral term. Nigger was never a neutral term. It was always slang. Neger links to Negro in interwiki, not to Nigger. There are also other usages of the word Neger with this etymology. It was even a surname [1]. There is no reason to believe that the use of the term Neger in the early 20th century was intentionally derogatory. Your translation is a distortion. Paul B 08:39, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

In Mark Twain's time, "nigger" was neutral.  Randall Bart   Talk  21:35, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

It wasn't always an insult, true. But it was always slang. Paul B 21:37, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Hans Massaquoi

I have deleted the follow comment and replaced it with more accurate and sourced material: "Hans Massaquoi, a German-Liberian from Hamburg, asserted in his autobiography that mixed raced Rhinelanders were rounded up and exterminated in Nazi death camps." The statement is not inaccurate in itself. Massaquoi does say this on p.2 of his book, but the information is simply false, and he even acknowledges that it is something he "learned" long after the war. His own experience as recorded in the book itself clearly contradicts the claim that black peole were targeted in that way. Paul B 11:38, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Disputed?

A disputed tag was added with the bizarre comment "yeah, it was Jews too. need citations for facts". What was "Jews too"? I have removed the tag on the grounds that it is nonsensical. There is no dispute at all about what the term Rhineland Bastard referred to. Paul B 10:12, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

The term refers to the offspring of German women who were raped and consequently impregnated by the French black rape squadrons. The products of this shameful raping are called "Rhineland Bastards" because as rape products, they have no fathers. I don't know why the article doesn't clearly state this. I guess you are victims of post-war propaganda. Oh well, this is only wikipedia anyway. Far from reputable, unlike Britannica. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.252.119.235 (talk) 20:14, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Well, I've no doubt that Britannica refers to "black rape squadrons" in its articles. Please be serious. Paul B (talk) 15:50, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

On a similar point, I've removed the note about a "dispute" over whether the "Rhineland Bastards" and the "Shame on the Rhine" was "racist" or just "nationalist," whatever that means. There is absolutely no doubt in the scholarly literature that race was at the very heart of the virulently racist publicity campaigns trying to build international and domestic opposition to the Entente occupation. While the general dismay over the occupation as a whole could be described as "nationalist," the demonization of black troops was entirely about race and visions of a colonial empire that had been taken away from Germans. When Germans talked about the children of relationships between black soldiers and German women ("black rape squadrons"? honestly...), those discussions were focused entirely around questions of race. On this there is absolutely no dispute. Trouser34 (talk) 04:09, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Contradiction

The article states that there were about 800 (max) blacks living in Germany under Nazi rule, yet the 'Deutsche Welle' Internet page which is linked to at the bottom of the article tells me that there were about 20.000 to 25.000 blacks (including 'mixed') living in the Germany of that time. This difference is too big to be just a mistake, one of the two has got to be clearly wrong. Anyone more knowledgeable then me on this subject care to explain? 31.151.99.220 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 15:42, 9 November 2011 (UTC).

I think you are correct in your observation. The figures 500 to 800 should refer to 'the Rhineland children' only, and not the population in total. See Other Germans: black Germans and the politics of race, gender, and memory in the Third Reich. Will change accordingly, (unless someone shows I'm mistaken). RashersTierney (talk) 20:04, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Done. RashersTierney (talk) 23:32, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

In popular culture

May be we can create a subsection called in popular culture and add Esi Edugyan Giller prize winning novel about these people ?Kanatonian (talk) 19:03, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Just, to clarify: you are referring to the Giller Prize winning novel Half-Blood Blues? Paul B (talk) 20:40, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Yes, Thanks Kanatonian (talk) 00:14, 10 November 2011 (UTC)