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Joseph Johan Cosmo NASSY

Nassy was one of many Blacks imprisoned in Nazi Germany's concentration camps. During his four years of

confinement, he subtlety captured in striking and poignant detail, the harshness of day to day living under Nazi tyranny. His collection "IN THE SHADOWS OF THE TOWER," is part of the permanent exhibition at the National Holocaust Museum. Presently, the more than one hundred paintings and etchings are housed in an undisclosed location with other holocaust artifacts. Possibly in Bowie, Maryland.

Nassy probably has the most extensive documentation of all black POW's in Nazi Germany. He died in 1976, was born in Suriname, South America. It is uncertain when he became an American citizen, but records show that he was given a U.S. passport in the summer of 1929. Nassy was a black Jewish businessman living in Belgium with his wife, Rosine. When the United States entered World War II, Nassy's was arrested by the SS. He was shuffled from prison to prison throughout Belgium and finally spent the last four years of incarceration in Germany's Laufen and Tittmoning camps. There were twelve other blacks in the camps with Nassy who were keep separate from the rest of the prisoners. Nassy taught art in the camps and was released in May of 1945. Nassy's U.S. passport probably kept him out of the more lethal concentration camps.

Nassy's works were scheduled to become part of the permanent exhibition at the National Holocaust Museum. Officials at the museum said the paintings maybe placed on special exhibition in the future, but they have so many artifacts, it would be impossible to display everything at once.

In the Shadow of the Tower

My Black Messiah,   by Sonia Weitz

A black GI stood by the door
(I never saw a black before)
He’ll set me free before I die,
I thought, he must be the Messiah.

A black Messiah came for me . . .
He stared with eyes that didn’t see,
He never heard a single word
Which hung absurd upon my tongue.

And then he simply froze in place
The shock, the horror on his face,
He didn’t weep, he didn’t cry

But deep within his gentle eyes
. . . A flood of devastating pain,
his innocence forever slain.

For me, with yet another dawn
I found my black Messiah gone
And on we went our separate ways
For many years without a trace.

But there’s a special bond we share
Which has grown strong because we dare
To live, to hope, to smile . . . and yet
We vow not ever to forget.

writer@lencooper.eu