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Our research project explores the connection between the U.S. military presence abroad and the advancement of civil rights in the U.S. We investigate the role that African-American GIs played in carrying the civil rights movement to Germany, which was host to the largest contingent of U.S. troops deployed outside the U.S.
Between 1945 and the end of the Cold War, some 15-20 million American soldiers, families and civilian employees lived in Germany. Between 2-3 million of those Americans were African American. By giving voice to their experience and to that of the people who interacted with them, we will expand the story of the African-American civil rights movement beyond the boundaries of the U.S.
This digital archive has three main goals: First, it will gather and preserve materials on an important, but little known chapter of American and African-American history as well as transatlantic relations after the Second World War. Second, it will make these materials available world wide and free of charge to scholars and teachers in the humanities. Third, it will foster the growth of a community of scholars, teachers, and students who are engaged in teaching and learning about the African-American civil rights movement and its reverberations outside the U.S.
For a list of U.S. military bases in Germany, please see here.
For further information about our research initiative, please read our mission statement, download our flyer, or visit our press section.
If you want to share your personal experience by contributing to our oral history collection or in any other way, please do not hesitate to contact us at:
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 A Breath of Freedom:
The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany
By Maria Höhn and Martin Klimke
Forthcoming with Palgrave Macmillan in October 2010
> more
“A breakthrough in international history“
Brenda Gayle Plummer, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
author of Rising Wind: Black Americans and U.S. Foreign Affairs, 1935-1960
“An eye-opener ... This book helps increase awareness of the noble contributions of black veterans to our nation“
Bob Filner, Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee
This website is a collaborative project of:
- German Historical Institute (GHI), Washington, DC
- Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA), University of Heidelberg
- Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
It is directed by:
- Maria Höhn, History Department, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
- Martin Klimke, German Historical Institute, Washington, DC /
Heidelberg Center for American Studies, University of Heidelberg
Supported by:
- AAGE (African-American German Exchange) e.V., Frankfurt, Germany
- Archive of Soldiers' Rights, e.V. Berlin, Germany
- Black German Cultural Society (BGCS)
- Black History Month, Berlin, Germany
- Collegium for African American Research (CAAR)
- Das Bundesarchiv, Koblenz, Germany
- Goethe-Institut Washington, DC
- Humanities Council of Washington, DC
- Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD), New York / Berlin
- National Geographic Society
- Ramstein Docu Center, Ramstein, Germany
- St. Mary's Church (Evangelische Kirchengemeinde St.Petri-St.Marien), Berlin, Germany
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