Was there racism going on during World War 2?

Answer 1

It was not only individual and personal, it was state sponsored.

It depends on which side you are asking about, and there is a distinction. In the Axis countries it was state-sponsored but not always individual. The Allied countries used Asians and Africans for Propaganda purposes in an effort to develop a united popular front, but many instances of individual and official racism can be found, and many instances of non-racism on the Axis side. I have cited a few of them below.

* In anyone's air force, only an officer can fly a fighter. Ergo, the all-black US 99th Fighter Squadron (the Tuskegee Airmen) had to be officers. Yet, a captured German pilot was surprised that he was allowed into the white restroom while a pilot of the 99th was not.

* The US 361st Tank Battalion (the Black Panthers) was a black unit commanded by white officers, and part of General Patton's US 3rd Army. For whatever faults he had (and there were many), Patton was not a racist, as were other whites who fought with the 361st. Still, the 361st suffered repeated instances of racism because they were a black unit.

* The 442nd Regimental Combat Team (the Nesei Regiment) was made up of Japanese-Americans and commanded by white officers. While lying in a hospital bed after being wounded in action, one of these Nesei soldiers formed a lifelong friendship with a wounded white solder from the 10th Mountain Division. Later they would become Senatator Daniel Inouye (d) and Senator Robert Dole (r).

* Joe Louis and Max Schmeling were used for propaganda purposes. In their first boxing match, Schmeling defeated Loius. In the rematch, Loius defeated Schmeling. As a punishment for losing the rematch, Schmelling was drafted into the German paratroopers and dropped on Crete in 1941 where the Nazis still hoped to milk him for whatever propaganda value he had left. From his hospital bed after being wounded in action, Schmeling refused to testify that he had seen wounded German soldiers bayoneted on the ground by the New Zealanders. [Some of the New Zealanders were Maoris with no respect for European fairplay, and this incident most certainly happened, but Schmeling did not claim to witness it.] On the Allied side, Joe Louis wore a US Army uniform during the war, but he was also used for propaganda and had no more civil rights than any other black US soldier. Although they were political pawns used against each other, Loius and Schmelling superceded it and remained friends after the war.

* General Erwin Rommel was ordered by Berlin to execute Jewish Battalion members of the captured Free French Brigade. He violated these orders by transferring them to the Italian Army where their lives would be spared. Later when he captured Tobruk, white South African officers demanded separate accommodations from their black NCOs and enlisted. Rommel turned down their request and put them all in the same pen. Rommel was a cold and calculating German general, but he was not a Nazi, nor was he a racist.

* Of all the Allied military organizations, the US Navy was probably the most racist, using African volunteers only as cooks and ammunition handlers, and they were forbidden to serve in a fighting capacity. One of these cooks found a chance to break this rule on the first day of the war, shooting down two Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor, but he was the exception.

* When offered command of various units, General Stilwell always responded that he would take anyone who would fight. As he commanded Nationalist Chinese who often deserted, he might have used anti-Asian slurs, but the word "anyone" implies that he did not care what color his troops were, as long as they would fight.

* Whereas General Patton distinguished German from Nazi, Admiral Halsey made numerous racial slurs against his Japanese enemy. It is not known whether Halsey actually hated the Japanese or merely used racism for propaganda purposes.

* The Japanes hoped to incite British, French, and Dutch colonials to join them in the fight against their imperial masters, but Japanese racism showed in its propaganda which was more insulting to the native colonials than to the imperial masters.

* When World War 2 began, the German SS accepted only those of pure German blood, but they relaxecd their racist standards to replenish casualties later in the war, accepting non-German soldiers from other Axis countries and even occupied countries.

Answer 2

Yes there was discrimination during World War II. The CIO has racial discrimination in its own membership. Discrimination was common in auto plants, especially in Detroit area. Alabama also has its own problem with discrimination at the time.

Answer 3

All wars have racism. WW2 saw more integrated armies than previous wars, but there was still racism no doubt.

Answer 4

Yes, on both sides (Whites and Blacks).