Black Artists under Nazi Persecution

(Foreground) Freddy Johnson, an American jazz musician who was interned in Tittmoning from January 1942 until February 1944, plays the piano. (Background) A drawing of a man playing the piano by artist Josef Nassy, who also was interned in Tittmoning.

Jazz musician Freddy Johnson refused to let racism in America stall his career. He embraced opportunities throughout Europe until the United States entered the war and he and other Americans were arrested. At the Tittmoning internment camp, Johnson continued to play music and met Black portrait artist Josef Nassy, who depicted their daily life as prisoners.

Life was even more precarious for Black German artists. While Bayume Mohamed Husen once acted in a Nazi propaganda film, he was eventually arrested for violating Nazi racial laws and died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In this digital program marking Black History Month, we learned about artists’ experiences in Nazi Germany.