Rightly so, the reign of terror of Nazi Germany is remembered for the wanton suffering inflicted on Jewish victims. Yet this terror also extended to Black people and those of African descent, who were targeted, persecuted, enslaved, and left for death in the concentration camps. Indeed, prior to the rise of Nazi racial policies, Black people in Germany already faced discrimination. In the 1920s, there were around 20,000 to 25,000 Black people living in Germany, many of whom were performers, students, colonial subjects, mixed-heritage children of African and German parents, or migrants from former German colonies in Africa. With the rise of the Nazis in 1933, this discrimination intensified and became existential.
Driven by Hitler’s regime and its obsession with racial purity, Black people and those of African descent were increasingly ostracized socially and economically, particularly following the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Many were fired from jobs, forced out of professions, and barred from attending universities. In addition, numerous Black individuals became victims of forced sterilization and castration, particularly mixed-heritage children, in an effort to prevent the so-called “pollution” of German Aryan blood.
By the middle of the Second World War, many Black people were arrested, imprisoned, forced to work as slaves in factories, or sent to concentration camps, where they endured brutal conditions and, in many cases, death. This included captured African servicemen who fought for the Allies, such as those from Britain, France, and other colonial forces, who were detained by the Nazis. These men, often soldiers or labourers, faced the same racialized persecution as other Black individuals under Nazi control. Amid this broader persecution, which in fact extended to territories captured by Nazi Germany, is the story of Waldemar Nods, a Surinamese man who had moved to the Netherlands, joined the Dutch resistance, and risked his life hiding Jewish refugees, only to be betrayed, arrested, and deported to Neuengamme concentration camp.
Here at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial (KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme) in Hamburg lie the files on Waldemar Nods. Born on 1 September 1908 in Paramaribo, Suriname, then a Dutch colony in South America, Nods was the son of a gold prospector and one of the first generations of Surinamese born free after the abolition of slavery. At the age of 19, he moved to the Netherlands to pursue his studies, arriving in The Hague in 1927. His experience, however, was marked by the racial prejudice that pervaded Dutch society.
In 1937, Waldemar married his partner Rika van der Lans, and in the early 1930s the couple opened a seaside guesthouse, Pension Walda, in Scheveningen. This achievement was cut short in 1940 when the Netherlands was invaded by Germany. In November 1942, at the request of the Dutch resistance, a prominent anti-Hitler movement, Waldemar and Rika began hiding Jewish men and women in their home.
In January 1944, following a betrayal, the couple’s home was raided by the Nazis, and the hidden Jews were discovered. Both were arrested and taken to Scheveningen prison. Rika was sentenced to life imprisonment and initially sent to Vught concentration camp, and later to Ravensbrück, where she died in February 1945. Waldemar was deported to Neuengamme concentration camp in February 1944. At the camp, he was assigned to work in the camp post office, a role that gave him limited contact with the outside world but did not shield him from the brutality of camp life.
In 1945, as Allied forces approached Hamburg, Waldemar and other prisoners were hurriedly evacuated and forced aboard the SS Cap Arcona. The vessel was mistakenly bombed by the Royal Air Force, killing thousands. Waldemar survived the initial bombing by swimming to shore, but he was shot by SS guards upon arrival.
The life of Waldemar Nods stands as a testament to resilience, courage, and solidarity in the face of unimaginable oppression. His story reminds us that the horrors of Nazi Germany extended far beyond Jewish victims, encompassing Black people and those of African descent, whose courage and resistance have too often been forgotten.
Relevant to stress, Waldemar Nods’ story is a powerful reminder of the importance of historical justice. By uncovering and remembering the persecution of Black people under Nazi Germany, we challenge the selective memory that often overlooks marginalized victims. His experiences mirror how systemic racism can be embedded in state policies and social institutions. It reveals that racism is not merely individual prejudice but a structural force. Today, the lessons from Waldemar’s life resonate strongly, as anti-Black racism persists globally, manifesting in social exclusion, economic inequality, and racialized violence.
In the final analysis, Waldemar’s story, along with those of other people of African descent who fell under the axe of Nazi Germany, underscores how resistance is a fundamental reality that must shape the consciousness of global African peoples. Whether under fascism, Nazism, capitalism, or any other inhumane ideology, attacks on Blackness are relentless. Thus making it essential for every global African community to be a site of resistance. Resistance against all systems of oppression, exploitation, and dehumanization, no matter their form or location. Waldemars’ life, his choice of solidarity under extreme danger, and his ultimate sacrifice can therefore be understood as part of a global Black Radical Tradition (BRT), representing a historical continuum of Black resistance to oppression.