Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger (2006)

Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi is born in Hamburg in 1926, the son of German nurse Bertha Baetz and Al Haj Massaquoi, who is from Liberia and studying in Dublin. Hans-Jürgen does not meet his father at the time. His paternal grandfather is Momolu Massaquoi, Liberia’s consul general in Hamburg and the first diplomat from an African country in Germany. After a brief, carefree life in his grandfather’s villa, Hans-Jürgen moves with his mother, while still a child, to a working-class district in Hamburg-Barmbek-Süd because his grandfather is needed in Liberia as minister of posts. In the neighborhood, he meets Klaus Mahnke and Fiete Petersen, two friends for life. While his mother works nights as a nurse, he stays with Elisabeth Möller, who later becomes almost part of the family, as does Franz Wahl, whom Bertha met at work and later falls in love with. However, because of his position as personnel manager, Franz is pressured into joining the Nazi Party. Because of his dark skin, the boy faces numerous problems as the Third Reich rises. For example, he is treated unfairly at school despite his good performance and is put on display during school sports; he is also barred from joining the German Young People, from serving in the Wehrmacht, and from entering air-raid shelters during attacks. He and his mother have to fight prejudice and try to survive as times become ever more inhuman. Franz, as a party member, offers the family only limited support, and Bertha eventually leaves him. Even so, Hans-Jürgen’s love for Germany and his desire to belong to its people connect him to the “Aryan” Germans. Hans-Jürgen falls in love with the blonde, fair-skinned Evchen John. When they are caught, the Gestapo arrests him, and he is released only through the help of his good friend, the policeman Reesen. With Reesen’s help and that of many other well-meaning people, Hans-Jürgen and his mother manage to survive the war in Hamburg.