Book Launch: Ronald Roberts, The Lad Who Outwitted the Nazis

📍 Venue: Toxteth Library, Windsor Street, Liverpool L8 1XF
🕕 Date and Time: Thursday 29th January, 6pm (for a 6.30 start)

Join us for the launch of a remarkable new book that brings to light the extraordinary life of Ronald Roberts, a man whose story crosses borders, regimes, and generations with discussions from Historian Eve Rosenhaft, Michèle Franklin and readings from actor‑playwright Tayo AlukoRonald Roberts, The Lad Who Outwitted the Nazis: From Weimar Germany to Windrush Britain (Published by Peter Lang), is written by Carol Roberts and edited with an introduction by Eve Rosenhaft.

Drawing on personal testimony and photographs, the book traces Ronald Roberts’ life from his birth in Germany in 1921, through racial persecution under Nazism and wartime civilian internment, to his post‑war life and eventual settlement in Britain.As the son of a Barbadian father and a German mother, Ronald Roberts belonged to a small, rarely documented group of Black Germans whose experiences complicate and deepen dominant narratives of the Nazi period. His story is one of endurance, ingenuity, and a determined refusal to “go under” in the face of persistent racism.

This event takes place (27 January), the UK’s national day of remembrance for the six million Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust, and for the millions of others persecuted and killed under Nazi rule and in subsequent genocides. Holocaust Memorial Day provides a moment to reflect on where prejudice can lead, and on the importance of memory, education, and responsibility across generations. And Ronald Roberts’ experience in post-war Britain as a British Empire national – a member of the Windrush Generation, though arriving from the opposite direction – is a reminder that racist and colonial structures did not end in 1945. By focusing on one individual life shaped by Nazi racial ideology and its aftermath, this book launch offers a reflective continuation of those conversations — connecting historical remembrance with lived experience, migration, and the long afterlives of persecution.Together, these contributions explore how personal histories travel across time and place, and how stories like Ronald Roberts’ continue to matter today.

About the Speakers

• Eve Rosenhaft is a historian whose work focuses on Black German history, slavery, and memory. She taught at the University of Liverpool until her retirement in 2021 and has published widely in the field of Black German studies.
• Michèle Franklin is a prize‑winning graphic artist whose work has been exhibited internationally. Her practice has long engaged with historical memory and the legacies of the Holocaust.
• Tayo Aluko is a Liverpool‑based playwright, actor, and singer whose acclaimed one‑man plays explore history, race, and political struggle.

📍 Venue: Toxteth Library, Windsor Street, Liverpool L8 1XF
🕕 Date and Time: Thursday 29th January, 6pm (for a 6.30 start)

All profits from the event will be donated to https://4wings.co.uk/ - a charitable organisation that offers a supportive and safe environment to socially excluded and marginalised groups who have experienced trauma, abuse and displacement.

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