Magdalene Garber

Magdalene (“Leni”) Garber

(Madelene Leni Garber in Berlin, Germany in the 1940s.)

Magdalene (“Leni”) Garber was born in January 1919 in Germany.

Her Father was Joseph Garber from Klein Popo, the German Protectorate of Togoland (Present Day: Aneho, Togo) in western Africa and her Mother was Johanna Maychrzak from Germany.

Togoland was a German Protectorate (German: Schutzgebiet Togo) from 1884-1914 before becoming split in two by the French (Present-Day: Togo) and the British (Present-Day: Ghana.)

Joseph came from a wealthy Family in German Togo and in 1890 he arrived in Hamburg, Germany before going to Buderose in East Prussia (Present Day: Budoradz, Poland) where he was educated at the 17^th Century Schloss Buderose.

In 1896 Joseph was part of the Berlin Colonial Exhibition (effectively a Human Zoo in Berlin’s Treptower Park) where 27 People from German Togo, including Joseph, were put on display in “Native Villages” for the On-Lookers to look at.

After the Exhibit Joseph moved to Berlin where he began an Apprenticeship as a Tailor (which he completed in 1905.)

On April 16, 1910 Joseph married Seamstress Johanna Maychrzak.

Their first Child, a Son Deska, was born in December 1909, Käthe (born in January 1912), Hans (born in July 1913), Magdalene (born in 1917), who died in Infancy, and another daughter also named Magdalene (born in January 1919), but called Leni by her Family.

Leni was known as a “Rhineland Bastard” (German: Rheinlandbastard) which was a Derogatory Term used during both the Weimer Republic (1918-1933) and in Nazi Germany (1933-1945) of a Child born from a Black Father from French Africa and a White German Mother in the Rhineland Region of Germany under French Occupation after World War 1 (1918-1930.)

Leni was not actually a “Rhineland Bastard” as her Father was from a Former German Colony and not a Black Soldier from the French Occupation Forces in Germany, but to the Officials in Weimer and Nazi Germany that was what they classified her as.

In 1914 German Togo was split into British Togo and French Togo and the part of Togo Joseph was born in was now part of French Togo.

Germany did not give Joseph German Citizenship as he was Black and the French did not give him French Citizenship because he was Black so he and his Family became Stateless.

In the 1920s Joseph’s Tailor Business closed due to the Hard Post-World War 1 Conditions across Germany.

Joseph and Johanna Divorced in March 1931.

Leni’s Mother, Johanna, died on November 24, 1934.

In 1936 the Nuremberg Laws were created that made it illegal for Non-Aryans (Jews, Blacks, etc.) to have the same rights as Aryans (Germans) including Intermarriage.

From 1936 Leni and her Family were part of German Africa Show (Deutsche Afrika Schau), a Part-Variety, Part-Ethnographic Show.

In 1938 the Family performed in Sweden with the German Africa Show after the French Government gave them Temporary Permission to travel to Sweden as French Colonials on the Condition that they returned to Germany afterwards and the Nazi German Government gave them Temporary Permission to travel outside Germany.

In September 1939 World War 2 began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

Joseph was arrested several times in the 1930s for “Unauthorized Residency within the German Reich” which labeled him as a Criminal Repeat Offender under the Nazis.

In 1940 the German Africa Show was shut down due to the War.

Not much is known about Leni or her Family’s experience during World War 2 other than they struggled to avoid arrest by the Nazi Authorities and struggled to make ends-meat.

Leni’s Father, Joseph, died on October 27, 1950.

Leni married Jack Goodwin, a Black American Soldier,  in May 1946 and had a Daughter a year later.

In 1947, Leni and her Family moved to the United States and lived in her Husband’s Hometown of Buffalo, New York.

Leni became an American Citizen in 1954 (no longer being Stateless after 35 years.)

Leni and Jack divorced and in 1958 Leni married William Thomas.

Leni became a Shipping Clerk for Gaymar Indutries until her Retirement in 1991.

Madelene “Leni” Garber died on December 13, 2013 at the age of 94.

She had 5 Grandchildren and 1 Great-Grandchild.

While Leni was officially Classified as a “Rhineland Bastard” she was not treated as one by the Nazis.

There were 25,000 “Rhineland Bastards” out of a Population of 65 Million in Nazi Germany.

In 1937 all “Rhineland Bastards” were registered and 400 of them were Forcibly Sterilized by the Nazis.

Many “Rhineland Bastards” were imprisoned in Concentration Camps and Institutes and had horrible Medical Experiments committed on them.