3. The domestic environment of the mixed-race children
What characterizes the environment of the colored children? More so than with adults, the domestic environment is the primary milieu that shapes the child. The school and the community of children come second. All of this, as has been stated, is influenced by the way in which the entire problem is assessed by the public. Table 1 shows the domestic circle in which the mixed-race children grow up:
Table 1
Federal Republic | 1951 | 1953 | Berlin | 1951 |
with the mother | 71% | 71% | } | 76% |
with relatives | 8% | 5% |
in homes | 12% | 12% | 12% |
with foster parents | 9% | 11% | 12% |
with American adoptive parents | – | 6% | – |
(The figures in the first column come from a survey by the Internationale Vereinigung für Jugendhilfe [International Association for Youth Aid], Geneva; those in the second column come from surveys by the World Brotherhood. Discrepancies in the sum arise in column 2, because some of the children adopted by Americans were also included in one of the other categories).
The fact is that the great majority of the colored children live with the mother or the mother’s relatives, that is, for the most part with the grandparents. In those cases, what does the home of the Mischling look like? Table 2 gives the educational level and learned vocation of 37 mothers of colored children (Berlin):
Table 2
Formal education Hilfsschule | 1 |
Elementary School | 28 |
| Volks- und Handelsschule | 4 |
Secondary School | 2 |
unknown | 2 |
learned vocation | 8 |
Artist | 1 |
domestic, saleswoman | 5 |
tailor, cleaner and the like | 5 |
gymnastics teacher, kindergarten teacher | 3 |
typist and the like | 10 |
no vocation | 5 |
Also of interest in this context is the age of the mother at the time of the birth of her – or her first – colored child:
Table 3
17 to 19 years | 6 |
20 to 22 years | 16 |
23 to 25 years | 12 |
26 to 28 years | 3 |
Older | 3 |
Average 22 years | |
[ . . . ]
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