Theodor Michael

Theodor Michael was born in Berlin in 1925 to a colonial migrant from Cameroon and a German mother. After primary school, he was denied further education because of his skin colour and worked as a page, porter and extra. In 1943, he was interned in a forced-labour camp, where he was liberated. After the war, Michael worked as an interpreter and actor, studied economics through an alternative educational route and became an Africa specialist with the Federal Intelligence Service. After retiring, he returned to acting and became involved in the Afro-German community. In 2018, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his work as a contemporary witness. Michael died in Cologne in 2019.