Brown Babies: A Thematic Analysis of Newspaper Articles Concerning Afro-German Children

Abstract: Mischlingskinder, also referred to as brown babies were the illegitimate children of African American occupation soldiers in post-World War II Germany. The complexities of their existence are often discussed in the context of national identity, racial identity and diplomacy. Their existence in Germany presented social struggles for the children as well as their mothers as a post Nazi German began towards society of racial acceptance. A few cases, through the cooperation of both the US and German government, some of the children were eligible for adoptions by African American families in America through the Brown Baby Adoption Plan. A thematic analysis was performed on 20 archived newspaper articles to uncover the different themes in which the children are discussed. My question is whether these themes connect to a lager theoretical concept of the “priceless child”. The results uncovered themes in which the brown babies were discussed which included their treatment in Germany, neglect, adoption and arrival in adoptive homes. The narratives of the children change over time in relation to the specific themes.