Persecution of Chinese people in Nazi Germany

Although spared from genocide, Chinese people in Germany was still subject to large-scale and systematic persecution by the Nazi German regime. Especially after the collapse of the Sino-German Cooperation due to the start of World War II in Europe, many Chinese nationals in Germany were forced to leave the country due to increasing government surveillance and coercions. After the Chinese declaration of war on Germany following the Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Gestapo launched multiple mass arrests of Chinese Germans and Chinese nationals across Germany,^[1] and concentrated the majority of them in Labour Camp Langer Morgen in Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg, using them as slave labourers; many were killed by the Gestapo's torture or forced labour.^[2] By the end of WWII, the pre-war Chinese communities in Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen were all destroyed, and there was virtually no Chinese presence left in Germany.

Initial persecutions

A memorial plaque on Schmuckstraße in Hamburg provides a brief history of the Chinese quarters in St. Pauli and its destruction by Gestapo in 1944.

References

1. Gütinger, Erich (1998). "“Sketch of Chinese Communities in Germany: Past and Present”". In Benton, Gregor; Pieke, Frank N. The Chinese in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-17526-9.
2. "Gedenktafel Chinesenviertel Schmuckstraße". Wikimedia Commons. 17 March 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2016.