Mandenga Diek

Mandenga Diek (15 September 1871 – 21 June 1943) was a shoemaker and businessman who is known as the first black person to acquire citizenship of the German Empire. Born in Belltown, Douala, Cameroon, into an upper-class family, Diek travelled to Hamburg in 1891 for education. At that time, his home was a German colony. In Hamburg, Diek started an apprenticeship with a shoemaker and passed his examinations as a journeyman. In 1895, his daughter, Erika Mandenga, was born; Diek obtained Hamburg (hence German) citizenship in 1896 and married Erika's mother in 1897. He was not allowed to return to Cameroon with his family and became a salesman and trader in Hamburg. He later moved to Danzig (Gdańsk), where he married for a second time, fathering two daughters. He started a wholesale business trading in colonial goods and lived a comfortable life until the Nazi Party took power in 1933 and he and his family suffered harassment. After unsuccessfully attempting to return to Cameroon, Diek died in 1943.

As one of very few Africans with German citizenship, Diek was part of self-help networks and co-signed Martin Dibobe's petition for Cameroonian rights. His wife and daughters suffered persecution during the Nazi era, but survived and escaped forced sterilisation attempts. His great-grandchildren Abenaa and Roy Adomako are part of Afro-German activism.