Most of the Black people in the former East Germany came not as invading or occupying soldiers, as in the former West Germany….They were invited guests, scholarship students brought to their universities by the old Communist government.  For the ones who stayed, and their descendants, journalist Damaso Reyes tells us, Living While Black in Eastern Europe isn’t always easy.

From Damaso Reyes

“I was aware of not being like all the other kids around me but I couldn’t describe my impressions and my feelings. At that time I thought that the people would see me the same way I do but of course it wasn’t. But in comparison to now people were not that courageous to tell their opinion in pubic like they do today. It was much more subtle and it was much more hidden.” –  Aminata Cisse Schleicher