DEU / ENG

Ika, two years ago you moved on to a new realty. In my way we take this journey together. ~ Dagmar Schultz, April 20, 2024

Ika Hügel-Marshall (*1947 in Bavaria; †2022 in Berlin) was an Afro-German activist, author, lecturer and artist. In her books and essays she has dealt with the topics of racism and feminism and the black women's movement. In the 1980s she was a co-founder of the women’s martial arts association “Women in Movement,” an early co-founder of the ISD (Initiative Black People in Germany) and co-founder of ADEFRA (Afro-German Women).

Ika Hügel-Marshall worked as a psychological consultant with an intercultural focus. She lectured at universities, worked as the publicity director for the Orlanda Frauenverlag and as an artist. Intensive colored graphics and the imaginative transformation of found objects made of wood are her specialty. Her pictures and graphics have been shown in exhibitions in Germany and the USA and can be found on various book covers.
As an author, she published her autobiography Invisible Woman. Growing up Black in Germany and a large number of essays. The English translation of the book, published in 2001 by Continuum International Publishers (now Bloomsbury), an annotated English version was published by Peter Lang Publishing in 2008.

She co-wrote the script for the film Audre Lorde - The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992 and is one of the protagonists in the film. Together with Dagmar Schultz, she made two trips to the US in 2012 with the Audre Lorde Legacy Cultural Festival, which included the film and a reading by her. In the years that followed, she gave readings around the world in connection with screenings of the film, e.g. at the Goethe Institutes in San Francisco, USA and in Windhoek, Namibia. (For more information see film journal on the page www.audrelorde-theberlinyears.com)

Ika Hügel-Marshall died unexpectedly and suddenly on April 21, 2022. There are many obituaries and articles about her life. Here are a few examples:

• Celebration of Life for Ika Hügel-Marshall June 21, 2022
• In Memoriam-Ika Hügel-Marshall
• Tribute to Ika Hügel-Marshall by Dr. Caroline Sinavaiana
• Ika Hügel-Marshall at work drawing

Films with and about Ika Hügel-Marshall

The film The Children of the Occupiers (director Reinhard Joksch) contains a portrait of Ika Hügel-Marshall as a contemporary witness for the American Zone of Occupation. The film was broadcast several times in 2006 on NDR (Northern German Broadcasting) and the Phoenix broadcaster. The film is repeated from time to time on different channels.

See Ika Hügel-Marshall in the excellent series of short films by Make Lanchin in BBC Witness History (video: 5 min • October 31, 2020), and hear Ika in Witness History (radio: 9 min •  November 3, 2020)

CHILDREN OF CHAOS, What became of WW2 orphans, 2022 (complete film; Ika: 1:14:00 – 1:20:45) • (trailer)

DIRECTOR : Agnès Pizzini & Julien Johan 
PRODUCER : ELEPHANT DOC / Looks Films / France 2 / Kwasa Films / Vertigo Films 

Ika Hügel-Marshall is the co-author of the script for the film Audre Lorde - The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992 and is a protagonist in the film.

Biographical data

• You were, you are, will always be with me. ~ Dagmar, March 21, 2023

  Degree as social pedagogue in Frankfurt/M. in 1975
• 12 years of work with children and young people, instructor for students and interns
• Completed training courses in psychosocial and intercultural counseling with a systemic approach
• Leader of diversity training since 1987 and active in consulting since 1995
• Activist in the Black movement; member of ADEFRA (AfroGermanWomen)
• Organization of the women’s martial arts association Frauen in Bewegung (Women in Movement) with Sunny Graff in Frankfurt/M. (1985)
• From 1990 to 2002 publicity director at Orlanda Frauenverlag in Berlin
• Anti-racism workshops with Dagmar Schultz
• Self-assertion training for women of color and Jewish women
• Several years of work at the Free University of Berlin, at the Technical University of Berlin and at the Alice Salomon University in the areas of: political awareness raising confrontation training and self-defense for female students (1st Dan Teakwondo). Lecturer at the Alice Salomon University in the field of counseling in social work, social pedagogy and in medical care management
• Extensive reading tours with the book Invisible Woman Growing Up Black in Germany in Germany and the United States 1998 to 2007
• Work as an artist and author, art exhibits
• Cultural background: Afro-American German
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