Toxi (1952)

Afro-German child actress Elfie Fiegert (1946) starred in the successful German drama Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952) about racism. She was also credited as Toxi.


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 395. Photo: Lilo / FONO / Allianz-Film.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 593. Photo: Lilo / FONO / Allianz-Film.


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 378. Photo: Lilo / FONO / Allianz-Film.

A mass audition

Toxi was born as Elfie (or Elfi) in 1946. Her father was an African American G.I. and student, who soon after her birth was sent off to Korea. So her German mother had to bring her baby to an orphanage. There she was discovered and adopted by the Fiegert family and renamed Elfi Fiegert.

In 1952, after a mass audition held in Munich, the then 5-year-old Elfi was selected for the lead in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952), also starring Paul Bildt, Carola Höhn and Johanna Hofer. She played Toxi, an Afro-German girl who comes to live at the house of a middle-class German family and thus confronts them with their racism.

The melodrama begins with a young Afro-German girl being left at the doorsteps of the Rose family — white middle-class Germans — assembled for a birthday party. Initially, most family members treat the young girl with relatively welcome arms as they believe she is only giving a performance as a birthday surprise from an aunt. The family later discovers a suitcase that was left on the doorsteps and realize that the young girl, Toxi, has in fact been abandoned.

Once the family learns that Toxi has been abandoned there is a shift in feelings regarding their acceptance of her; the possibility of the girl spending more time at the home than was expected forces members of the family to confront their racism. Of all the characters within Toxi, Theodor Jenrich (Wilfried Seyferth) is one of the most overtly racist figures for much of the film. This becomes clear in his strong objections to the idea of his children growing up around Toxi and his repeated attempts to get her out of the house.

This antagonistic approach towards Toxi directly contrasts the heartwarming relationships Toxi has with Grandfather Rose (Paul Bildt), his younger daughter Herta (Ingeborg Körner) and her soon-to-be fiancé Robert Peters (Rainer Penkert). Where Uncle Theodor spends much of his time attempting to find a way to rid himself of Toxi, Grandfather Rose, Herta and Robert reach out to Toxi, engage with her and work to establish a more genuine relationship.


German collectors card, no. Q74. Photo: Fono / Allianz-Film / Michaelis. Wilfried Seyferth, Elfie Fiegert as Toxi and Carola Höhn in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952).


German collectors card, no. Q74. Photo: Fono / Allianz-Film / Michaelis. Elfie Fiegert as Toxi and Carola Höhn in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952).


German collectors card, no. Q74. Photo: Fono / Allianz-Film / Michaelis. Al Hoosman and Elfie Fiegert as Toxi in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952).

The brown babies

The release of Toxi (1952) came as the first wave of children born to black Allied servicemen and white German mothers (the ‘brown babies’) entered school.

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “At the time the film was made, over 3000 children were living in Germany who'd been fathered by African American GIs. Referred to as ‘mischlings,’ these children were often treated as outcasts because of their illegitimacy and skin colour.”

Publicity for the film emphasized the similarities between Elfi Fiegert’s own story and that of Toxi. Elfi was even credited as Toxi. The name Toxi became widely used as shorthand in the German media when referring to Afro-Germans and their social circumstances.

The light entertainment film had a happy ending and was the eighth most popular release at the West German box office in 1952.

Hal Erickson: ”By concentrating on a highly fictionalized plotline, Toxi tends to ignore the thousands of other mischlings whose lives are far more complex and tragic than that of the film's central character.”


German collectors card, no. Q74. Photo: Fono / Allianz-Film / Michaelis. Elfie Fiegert as Toxi and Wilfried Seyferth in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952).


German collectors card, no. Q74. Photo: Fono / Allianz-Film / Michaelis. Rainer Penkert, Elfie Fiegert as Toxi and Ingeborg Körner in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952).


German collectors card, no. Q74. Photo: Fono / Allianz-Film / Michaelis. Paul Bildt and Elfie Fiegert as Toxi in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Patricia M. Mazón and Reinhild Steingröver (Not So Plain as Black and White), Wikipedia (English and German), and IMDb.