Hitler's African victims
Subtitle: the German Army massacres of Black French soldiers in 1940
By: Raffael Scheck.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Cambridge, [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 202
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities -- France.; World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.; Blacks -- Nazi persecution -- France.; Prisoners of war -- Germany -- History -- 20th century.; Prisoners of war -- Africa, West -- History -- 20th century.
Description: "During its campaign against France in 1940, the German army massacred several thousand black POWs belonging to units drafted in France's West African colonies. This book documents these war crimes for the first time on the basis of extensive research in French and German archives. A massive Nazi propaganda offensive approved by Hitler, reviving traditional images of black soldiers as mutilating savages, formed the background for the massacres. The book shows, however, that the treatment of black French POWs was highly inconsistent and that abuses were often triggered by certain combat situations. It connects the massacres of black French soldiers to the debates on the Nazification of the German army during World War II and places them in the context of the treatment of nonwhite "illegitimate combatants" in colonial wars."--Jacket
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.