Hilarius Gilges (1909-1933) was an Afro-German amateur actor and political activist who was killed by the SS.
Gilges, known as "Lari," was the son of a Dusseldorf textile worker and an African man (unidentified) who likely worked on a boat on the Rhine. Gilges was given his stepfather's name when his mother married in 1915.
Gilges joined the Communist Party a a young man. He was an activist and worked to share his political views through agitprop theatre. He served a one-year sentence from 1931 to 1932 after a skirmish related to his activism.
In 1933, he was tortured and killed by SS officers and Gestapo after he was discovered despite being in hiding. He was survived by a wife, Katharina Hubertine Laatsch, and their two children. Today, a Dusseldorf plaza is named after him to commemorate his life.--Heidi Durrow
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Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience. Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading. And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. Copyright 2014.
