As the occupation continued into the 1950s, so did the relationships between black soldiers and German women. But they fraternized at their own peril. Blacks in uniform found themselves on the receiving end of the same indignities experienced in the United States, and by the same oppressors: white Americans. When German women were caught on dates with black men, they were reportedly called “nigger-whores” by Americans in uniform. These women were often harassed on the street and even threatened with incarceration. One black soldier stationed in the European theater, when interviewed by NAACP president Walter White, reportedly said, “What are we fighting for over here? Are we sent . . . to fight the Nazis—or our white soldiers?”16

The U.S. military was aware of the injustices that white soldiers inflicted on black soldiers. In just one of many examples, in 1946, Dwight D. Eisenhower received a letter from Alvin M. Owsley, “an indignant former national commander of the American Legion,” after he saw a picture of a black GI and a white German woman. Owsley wrote:

My dear General, I do not know . . . where these negroes come from, but it is certain that if they expect to be returned to the [U.S.] South, they very likely are on the way to be hanged or burned alive at public lynchings by the white men of the South. . . . There is only one way to stop the white man of the South from burning and hanging blackmen who lay their hands on our white women and that is . . . [for] . . . the blackmen to associate with black women and leave our women alone.17

Black men stationed in Germany endured verbal slurs and physical threats. If a black soldier was spotted walking alongside a German woman, uniformed white soldiers were known to drive their vehicles onto the sidewalks as if they were about to run the black GI down. Sometimes these threats led to actual violence. In Asberg, Bavaria, white GIs threw beer bottles at black servicemen dancing with German women. A brawl later ensued, and a white soldier was fatally shot. Three black soldiers were court-martialed and sentenced to hang.18

The strife between black and white American soldiers signaled to Germans that racism against blacks was acceptable. For example, there were alleged acts of discrimination by store owners who refused to serve black soldiers or their families. Some German bar owners, under pressure from white American GIs, barred black soldiers from their establishments. Anticipating objection from black GIs, white military police would patrol outside the bars in case any black soldiers attempted to enter.19

If that treatment had been directed at a white soldier, there would have been repercussions. But since blacks were on the receiving end, the slights went unpunished and excused. Ironically, Germans learned from their American occupiers that white supremacy was a shared value in both American and German cultures.