12 Diaries of Solidarity in the Global Cold War: The East German Friendship Brigades and their Experience in ‘ Modernizing ’ Angola

 I am very grateful to the editors of this piece, Eric Burton and Immanuel R. Harisch,who made all the necessary and extremely helpful editorial suggestions.What is more, both were so kind to share their great expertise gained from working on the otherwise little-studied Freundschaftsbrigaden themselves.  “Gedanken,” Rudi S., April 1984, Stiftung Archiv der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der DDR im Bundesarchiv (hereafter SAPMO-BArch), DY 24/19129.  “Freude,” Rudi S., February 1984, SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/19129.


Introduction
In his monthlypoems, Rudi reflectedonthe routines of his deployment in a Brigade der Freundschaft (also called Freundschaftsbrigade, "FriendshipB rigade") in Angola. These collectivesofy oung citizensofthe German Democratic Republic (GDR) weresenttothe "newlyindependent nation states" of the post-colonial world in order to enact the "international solidarity" thatt he GDR leadership proclaimed as one of its basic political principles. The Brigaden of the GDR'sofficial youth organization Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ, "Free GermanY outh")p rovided social services or training and supported local economies by directlye ngaging in agriculture, transport, or construction.⁴ Rudi'spoem echoed official solidarity discourses-namelyasaunified struggle of African and German actors-but alsor eflected the practical dilemmas of exercisingsolidarity in Angola. Taking up this lead, my contribution seeks to reconsider the roles of young East Germans in the Freundschaftsbrigaden within the ColdW ar-which became a "hot war" in the vast and resource-rich country of Angola.⁵ My central aim is to examine the perspectivest hatt he brigade collectivesa ssumed and presented of their deployment to socialist Angola in the last decade of the GDR'se xistence. Particular attention is put on their views of the mission of "friendship" and "international solidarity" within their work environment and (official) encounters with the Angolan youth and project partners.
The discussion on the impact of official state solidarity and its ramifications in reality for this specific group of East German actors is inspired by OddA rne Westad'semphasis on the importance of the interventionist and modernist polit- This contribution relieso nt he solid basis of ImmanuelR .H arisch'sr esearch on the deployment of the GDR's Freundschaftsbrigaden in Angola in the largerc ontexto fe conomic relations between the two countries.Apart from ageneral overview of the numbers,Harisch touches upon the issues of motivation, choice, and selection of the Brigadisten,the bilateralnegotiations preparingt heir deployment,t heir remuneration as wella ss upply, provisioning, and accommodation, but also the fields,p laces, and results of their work, as well as instances of disciplining, racism, and corruption; ImmanuelR .H arisch, "Handel und Solidarität: Die Beziehungend er DDR mit Angola und São Tomé und Príncipeunterbesonderer Berücksichtigung des Austauschs 'Ware-gegen- Ware' ca. 1975-1990" (M.A. thesis,U niversität Wien, 2018, 111-169. UlrikeG ödeke'sstudyofthe political organization of Freundschaftsbrigaden in Africa is equallyv ery helpful to come to an overview of their roleinthe political context of the GDR; Ulrike Gödeke, "Zwischen brüderlicher Hilfe und allseitigerStärkung der DDR: Die Freundschaftsbrigaden der FDJin Afrika1 964 bis 1990" (Diploma thesis,F reie Unversität Berlin, 2002. While the scholarlyliterature on the Brigaden is generallyscarce, Eric Burton has recentlyhighlighted the entanglements of the brigades' activities with statei nterests as wella swork relations and personal motivesi n his contribution "Solidarität und ihre Grenzen: Die Brigaden der Freundschaft der DDR," in Internationale Solidarität: Globales Engagement in der Bundesrepublik und der DDR,e d. Frank Bösch, Caroline Moine, and Stefanie Senger(Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag,2018). Foranapologetic account that still givesagood overview,see Ulrich van der Heyden, "FDJ-Brigadender Freundschaft ausd er DDR -die Peace Corps des Ostens?," in Die eine Welt schaffen: Praktiken von 'Internationaler Solidarität‚ und 'Internationaler Entwicklung,' ed. Berthold Unfried and Eva Himmelstoss (Leipzig:A kademische Verlagsanstalt, 2012).  VladimirShubin, TheHot 'Cold War':The USSR in Southern Africa (London: Pluto Press, 2008). ical ideologies on boths ides of the bloc divide for perpetuating the globalC old War.⁶ Westad states that "injusticea nd oppression became more visible in the 20 th century … [and] people-especiallyy oung people-felt the need to remedy these ills. Cold Warideologies offered immediate solutions to complex problems."⁷ The commitment of the youngE ast Germans within the context of the "anti-imperialist struggle" of Angola turns this group of actors into ar elevant test case for Westad'sa ssumptions. The Freundschaftsbrigaden wered irectlya nd personallyaffected by the global Cold War. Still, they have been mostlyneglected in the existing literature on the GDR'si nternational solidarity as well as in the literature on Angola'sC oldW ar more generally.
The GDR'sofficial and state party documentationindicates the interlinkages and entanglements of the Freundschaftsbrigaden'sd eployment in Angola with profane economic interests.⁸ In retrospect, this view is alsoshared by former brigade members dismissing the GDR'ss olidarity as "plunderinga mong friends."⁹ Other memory accounts of brigade members rather stress apolitical understandingso fa n" adventuristj ourney."¹⁰ My approach, focusingo nt he contemporary motivations and their discussion in the Freundschaftsbrigaden,c omplements these views of former brigade members as well as recent scholarship.¹¹ The analysis focusseso nt he Brigadetagebücher,annual "brigade diaries" that werewritten and compiled by the col- Odd Arne Westad, TheGlobal Cold War: ThirdWorld Interventions and the Making of OurTimes (Cambridge:C ambridge University Press,2 005), 4-5; 39 -73.  Odd Arne Westad, "The Cold Wara nd America'sD elusion of Victory," New York Times,A ugust 28,2 017, accessed January 20,2 020, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/opinion/coldwar-american-soviet-victory.html. Apart from Westad, other historians,such as David Engerman or SaraL orenzini, have also offered reflections on the links between "developmentalist" and Cold Warideologies.David Engerman, "Development Politics and the Cold War," Diplomatic History 41 (2017); SaraLorenzini, Global Development: AColdWar History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019).  Albrecht to Günter Mittag, "Abkommen über den weiterenE insatz vonFDJ-Brigaden, " February 12, 1981,103,S APMO-BArch, DY 3023/1464.  "Franke,""Mein Angola 1984," Angola Forum, accessed January 20,2020, http://www.angolaforum.de/thread.php?board=3&thread=1.  "Mit einer FDJ-Freundschaftsbrigade in Angola," MDR.de, January 13,2 011, accessed January 20,2020, https://www.mdr.de/damals/archiv/artikel105354.html. Fora ne xemplarya nalysis of not onlyEast German but also LusophoneAfrican (in this case Mozambican) memoriesofcooperation, see Piepiorkaa nd Buanaissa,t his volume.  Here Ifollow the suggestions of Berthold Unfried, "Instrumente und Praktiken von 'Solidarität' Ost und 'Entwicklungshilfe' West: Blickpunkt aufdas entsandte Personal," in Die eine Welt schaffen. Praktiken von 'Internationaler Solidarität‚ und 'Internationaler Entwicklung,' ed. Berthold Unfried and Eva Himmelstoss (Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsanstalt,2 012), 77. lectivest hemselves. These diaries were in line with similar documentationo f economic and political collectivesinthe GDR.¹² . In the diaries, brigade members dutifullyc hronicled their deployment but alsoe ngaged in broader reflections.¹³ The entries in these diaries give insight into adense network of official socialist encounters with Angolan counterparts of the socialist ruling party Movimento Populard eL ibertação de Angola (MPLA) or the brigades' counterparts of the MPLA'so fficial youth organization, the Juventude (JMPLA). Consequently, the Brigadetagebücher are unique and compact sources offering insights into concretepractices shaped by non-elite East German conceptions of international solidarity.Theyshowcase the subjectivities of Brigadisten as well as the possibilities of their communication within the forumo ft he collective.T heir perspectives werec onstrained by the expecteda udience,b alancing different communicative demands. The "semi-official" diaries were part of the competition for collective awards and thereby favored entries by individual brigade members situating their mission within publiclyc ondoned narratives.¹⁴ As Ishow in this contribution, the imageofAngolans within the Tagebücher largely remained confined to the GDR'so fficial framework of solidarity.The brigade members' mediated and fragmentary perspective on the Angolan counterparts presents the latter as willingand thankful beneficiariesofEast German actions rather than complex individuals or even political allies. The Tagebücher onlyr arelyg ivep roof of direct repercussions that encounters with Angolans had for Brigadisten or point to potential criticisms against GDR policies emerging from the ruptures in their experiences. These limitations are duetothe character of the sources as wella st he rigidlyc ontrolled structured realities of the Brigaden'sd eployment.
Still, aclose readingofthe Brigadetagebücher can reveal how the dichotomy between the "modern" GDR and the "backwardness" of post-colonial Angola turned into ac entral interpretative frame for individual brigade members. The  Emergingout of the East German brigade movement of work collectives, brigade diaries were promoted as chronicles of collective work life to take account of participation in work competitions.S ee JörgR oesler, "Berichtsbuch, Beschwerdeschrift oder Bilderfolge?U nterschiedliche Vorstellungen zum Inhaltvon Brigadetagebüchern in den Anfangstagender 'sozialistischenKollektive,'" in Vorwärts und nichts vergessen. Sprache in der DDR -was war, was ist, was bleibt,ed. Ruth Reiher and Antje Baumann (Berlin: Aufbau, 2004).  Forabroader introduction to the Brigadetagebücher as sources,s ee ImmanuelR .H arisch and Eric Burton, "SozialistischeG lobalisierung. Tagebücher der DDR-Freundschaftsbrigaden in Afrika, Asienu nd Lateinamerika," unpublishedm anuscript,f orthcomingi nZeithistorische Forschungen.  The Brigadetagebücher were reada nd assessed by superiors.S ee Harisch and Burton, "Sozialistische Globalisierung." task of "modernization" was understood as the fundamental transformation of the Angolan society by mirroringattributes that the East German actors assumed to be central for the basic set-up of their own society,s uch as rationalism and industrialization.¹⁵ Iargue that the Brigadisten presented theirdeployment as acrucial factor in contributingtoAngola's "modernization" along socialist lines through the transfer of knowledge and values. In practice, the Brigadisten stronglyf ocused on their immediate surroundings as well as their concrete possibilitiest ot his contribution and providing "humanitarian" relief as their main objectives. These practical concerns frequentlycontradicted the official GDR'scliché phrases of internationalism and anti-imperialism.
My findingst hereforer elativize arguments which stress the immediate centrality of socialist ideologyf or this group of exposed East Germansi nt he Cold War. Still, they also underline the emphasis in Odd Arne Westad'sw riting on the "modernizing" mission as ac entral dimension of Cold Wari deologies with respect to nation building in countries such as socialist Angola. Remarkably, the members of the friendship brigades in Angola rarely engaged explicitly with the need for socialism. Instead of projectinga" politicized" understanding of their activities, Is how how their "interventionism" focused on tangible practices of aid and the mechanics of modernization instead.
The tensions between the collectivist and individualist perspectivesw ithin these sources show how far the collectivist ideal within the brigades actuallyextended and how visions of solidarity weresourced between individual emphases and common proclamations.N ot least,t his collective sourceu ndermines common tropes contrasting African collectivism with European individualism, as a European collectivism comes into view.The taken micro-historicala pproach of ac lose focus on the brigades helps to trace the intensity and ambiguitieso f the brigades' socialist encounters,but also the extent of their(dis)entanglement with the political conditions in Angola as the Brigaden moored in this crucial locale of the Global Cold War.

InternationalS olidarity in the GDR'sG lobal Cold War
The Brigaden der Freundschaft and its members werea ctive within the wider context of the GDR'sf oreign policy'sf ocus on the "newlyi ndependent nation states" of the post-colonial world. Throughout the GDR'se xistence, the involvement with these countries was presented as international solidarity which even carried constitutional weightf rom 1974.¹⁶ The GDR would stand "united" with these states in ajoint struggle against "imperialism" and "capitalism."¹⁷ Conceptually, international solidarity wasp resented as aq uasi-natural life praxis of "true" and "mutual" friendship on an equal footing in no need of profound theoretical deliberations.¹⁸ In the GDR public sphere, officiallycondoned solidarity was legitimized and popularized by the state-socialist organizations from state-coordinated media to education. International solidarity was present(ed) as an ideological argument for the continued benefitso ft he East German political order despite the GDR's lethargic state.¹⁹ At the same time, non-state actors promoted values of international solidarity as well, but were marginalized by the official GDR.²⁰ The "omnipresence" of this "mission" instilled it as an integralp art of the political consciousnesso fG DR citizens.
With regards to the discursive functions of international solidarity within the GDR,G regory Witkowski argues thatt he campaign for solidarity was supposed to mobilizeE ast Germans into action by stressingt he dependency of its recipients but also calling for achangeofconsciousness among GDR citizens. The predominant narrativeo ft he alreadys ocialist East German state seeking to spread this remedyfor continuingp olitical ills was to position the GDR society "on the  "Artikel 6,"Verfassung der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik,October 7, 1974,accessedJanuary 6, 2020,h ttp://www.documentarchiv.de/ddr/verfddr.html. side of moral righteousness,"²¹ and perpetuated ah ierarchical and even racialized worldview.²² Toni Weis equallys tressest he importance of the anti-colonial imaginary of solidarity and describes it as avague ethic at the samet ime.²³ Weis rejects discussions about its imposition or genuineness, underlining how solidarity was endorsed "to different degrees and for avariety of reasons."²⁴ Indeed, GDR citizens fundamentallya greed with the benevolence of East German support for anti-imperialist,a nti-colonialist,a nd anti-capitalist causes, that could, at the same time, be acknowledgeda sg enuine and state-imposed.
Exploring the reasons for the perpetual stability of the discourse, Weis introduces the picture of a "workingm isunderstanding" in the political relations of East German and African actors:t he "rhetoric of solidarity remained abstract enough to be filled with different contents by the two partners and used for their ownr espective agendas."²⁵ With regards to the discourse within the GDR, Weis assesses how "[t]he imageo ft he 'other' was confined to the framework of solidarity,w hich in turn reflected back-ideallyi napositive way-on the GDR itself."²⁶

FDJ-Friendship Brigades in SocialistA ngola
By exploring the Freundschaftsbrigaden,s et up in 1963a sam ain actor of the GDR'spractice of international solidarity,itispossible to reconsider the concrete implications of the solidarity framework. As tools of their foreign policy,detached to over 20 countries on threec ontinents in total, the Brigaden were used by the SED leadership to woo "newlyindependent nation states" and theirsocialist alignment.²⁷ From the mid-1970so nwards,t he Freundschaftsbrigaden had a strongfocus on Ethiopia, Mozambique, and particularlyAngola as "socialist-ori-ented countries."²⁸ Their deploymentwas entangled with trade and export interests as well as it was linked to "solidarity efforts," such as the support of vocational training and donations organized by societal organizations of the GDR.²⁹ In these countries,the alignment with the socialist bloc remained fragile and at times contested so thatthe East German employment of brigades served to continuouslyunderline the benefits of cooperating with the GDR as acomparatively weak socialist economic and political partner.
The Freundschaftsbrigaden were joined by young men and (fewer)women of different professions who liveda nd worked as "collectives" in their countries of deployment.Before they traveled abroad, the brigade members were thoroughly checked for their political reliability and underwent training.Whereas the services of the Brigaden were usually provided freeo fc harge,t he host government was responsible for food and accommodation.³⁰ In 1989,the FDJcelebratedthe Freundschaftsbrigaden'smission to overcome colonial legacies and their role as the "bridgesoffriendship" to the youth of the postcolonial world.³¹ The FDJn amedt he provision of (vocational) traininga nd possibilities for academicstudyaswell as contributions to construction projects, or theirw ork in industry,transport, and agriculture, as central objectiveso ft he Freundschaftsbrigaden. Transport and agriculture wereo fp articular importance to the activities of the Freundschaftsbrigaden in Angola.³² The GDR had emerged as at rusted partner among other socialist statesf or the ruling Marxist MPLA since at least the early1 960s.³³ Itsi nternational relations to socialist countries wereofvital importance to the MPLA to seize government control after Angolan Both should remain vital for the MPLA'sholdtopower with the continuation of Angola'sa nti-colonial liberation war as an internationalized civil war.T he MPLA leadership'sr ule over the country was challenged by internal opposition within the party resulting in an attempted coup d'état in May1 977a nd the continuing onslaught by competingf ormer liberation movements. The interests of these armed groups werei nterwoven with those of neighboring states,s uch as Zaire, as well as South Africa which had control of Namibia. The dynamics of the Cold War, but also commercial interests in Angola'sd iamond and most importantly oil resources,g uaranteed the longevity of conflict.³⁵ Over the years following independence,the GDR leadership took strongi nterest in its political as well as economic relations with Angola. Seeing Angola as am odel for other African states,a no fficial of the East German Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted accordingly: "Forthe first time,adeveloping country with the foundations of am odern economyi so no ur side."³⁶ Angola became not onlya major and politically relevant supplier of coffee, but also an important export destination for GDR machinery and technologies, most notablyt he IFAW 50 trucks.³⁷ The deployment of GDR personnel to Angola as technical and administrative expertsa sw ell as political advisers was an integralp art of trade and cooperation.³⁸ In late 1977,t hese GDR experts werej oined by over 130 members of the  Fora no verview of Angola'sh istoryb eforea nd after independence see David Birmingham, "Angola," in AH istoryo fP ostcolonial Lusophone Africa,e d. Patrick Chabal( London: Hurst, 2002).  Fora no verview of the longer-term entanglements of these interests, see Birmingham, "Angola," 155 -179. ForC uba'sp aramount importance in the support of the MPLA government stressing ac ourse of action independent from the Soviet Union, see PieroG leijeses, Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria and the Struggle for Southern Africa (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press,2 013). Gleijeses' further argument of Cuban "revolutionary idealism" stands in contrast to Christine Hatzky'sw ho has pitted the importance of economic motivations for the lastings ervice of Cuban experts in Angola. ChristineH atzky, Cubans in Angola:S outh-South Cooperation and Transfer of Knowledge, 1976Knowledge, -1991  Freundschaftsbrigaden on the explicit request of the Angolan President Agostinho Neto who had himself once livedn ext to ab rigade in his Tanzanian exile.³⁹ The Brigaden weretomainlyfacilitate and guarantee the servicing of W50 trucks and coffee exports, mostlyb yf amiliarizingA ngolans with (the repair of)t he trucks as well as maintaining otheragricultural machinery.⁴⁰ Internal sources explicitlyrefertosuch tasks as "Kundendienst," customer service, aterm reflecting the brigades' integration into economic supplylines and inclusion into trade relationso verall.⁴¹ The MPLA'syouth organization, the Juventude do Movimento PopulardeLibertaçãod eA ngola (JMPLA), wast he direct counterpart of the FDJint he deployment of the Freundschaftsbrigaden,anawkwardfit as the JMPLA was atinycadre organization by comparison.⁴² Apartf rom their frequent exchanges with the JMPLA, the brigades also cooperatedwith other official organizations of the Angolan socialist society,s uch as the women'so rganization and the trade unions, but also the armed forces, most notablyt he regular army Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola (FAPLA).⁴³ The East Germans wereone group in a lively sphere of "internationalists" from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Vietnam, and Cuba among others-fertile ground for "socialist encounters".
The Brigaden of around 10 to 20 Germans werefirst basedinthe urban centers Luanda, Gabela, N'Dalatando, and Uíge. In later years, further Brigaden set up "repair stations" for GDR machinery and vehicles. From the beginning,t he conditions of theirs ervice werep lagued with problems, leading to dissatisfaction among the Brigadisten,b ut also fueling political dispute between the Ger- A.B. Neumann, "Information über die Reise," 34,S APMO-BArch, DY 3023/1463.  Harisch, "East German Friendship-Brigadesa nd Specialists in Angola."  Erich Honecker to Günter Mittag, "Informationen über beendeteB eratungend es Gemeinsamen Wirtschaftsausschusses DDR/VRA Angola, " March 8, 1981,SAPMO-BArch DY 3023/1464.Interlinkagesbetween economic and solidarity relations were characteristicofthe East German interactions with "newly independent nation states" beyond Angola as well. One prominent example is the coal plant in the Mozambican town Moatize.  While the JMPLA onlyhad afew thousand members at times,the FDJincluded the vast share of young GDR citizens,e.g.2.3 million members in 1981,morethan 77 %ofGDR citizens between 14 and 25 years of age. Unfortunately,thereishardly anysecondary literatureonthe JMPLA; for some basic information refertoMichael Wolfers and Jane Bergerol, Angola in the Frontline (London: Zed Press, 1983 man and Angolan sides.⁴⁴ The prolongedi nternationalized civilw ar resultedi n severe risks for the safety of the dispatched brigades due to which the ones in Gabela and Malanje were, for example, evacuated in 1983.⁴⁵ Security concerns also co-determined the extent to which the brigades isolated themselveso re ngagedw ith the partners and society surroundingt hem, underlining the impression of limited and finite mooringsw ith the possibility of sudden departure. Nonetheless,t he deploymento fBrigaden was continued until 1989.

The Structured Practice of Solidarity in the GDR Collective
The five Brigadetagebücher analyzed here⁴⁶ werea uthored by four different brigades and jointlyc over at ime period from 1982 to 1986.T hese "diaries" were produced by the brigades themselveso vert he course of their deployment.S upposed to "represent the interesting life of the collective,"⁴⁷ the diaries included written texts as well as various formso fi llustrations⁴⁸ from multiple authors and were part of wider documentation obligations.⁴⁹ They gave "calendar sheet" reports reflectingt he cycles of deployment and others on political meet- ingso rt he fulfillment of work requirements, but also covered the extraordinary events of brigade life. These events included festivities and get-togethers with the members of the JMPLA or other "internationalists," but alsor ecreational activities. Moreover,there was space for reflections of individual brigade members on their personal situation within the brigade collective.T akent ogether,t he "diaries" feature relatively unguided and sometimes quitepersonal contents and perspectives-diverse takes on brigade life with strongindividual emphases-next to more official takes on conventional markers of socialist life in the collective abroad.
The diaries represent the collectives' activities as tightlys tructured around the political space of the GDR and official encounters with the Angolan side confirming their mission of solidarity and mutual friendship. Reflective of their continuing close integration into the GDR'ss ocio-political structures weret he brigades' participation in work competitions for honorary titles,⁵⁰ but also their duties to present solidarity donations to beneficiariesi nA ngola.⁵¹ Here, the brigades acted as representativesofEast German organizations and companies that usually exercised their solidarity through collections from afar.⁵² Reports on the occasion of national political events in the GDR or certain initiativeso ft he Free German Youth (FDJ)-for example by transplanting "peace marches" to Angolafurther underlined how East Germanpolitical rituals were perpetuated in the social life of the Freundschaftsbrigaden: It wasn'tt hat easy to explain without an interpreter whyw es hould taket ot he streets together and that peacemarches took placeeverywhereinthe world and that the youth of the GDR also demonstrated at the same hour for the same goals.
The diaries further give account of ad ense network of socialist encounters with otheri nternationalists from socialist countries,r epresentativeso ft he MPLA, and local leaders of the Angolan military,economyorstate to strengthen the internationalist friendship.⁵⁵ Delegations of the brigades werec onstantlyi nvited to central political events, such as the oath-taking of Angolan soldiers,⁵⁶ to which the Germans contributed shortmessages reaffirmingtheir internationalist mission.⁵⁷ The reports on such encounters,j ust as well as the ones on interlinkagesw ith the GDR,w erer ife with the parlance and set phrases of solidarity as a "class duty."⁵⁸ These encounters werec ompleted by the cooperation between the brigades of the FDJand representativesofthe party youth organization JMPLA as their official counterparts.⁵⁹ Purged, and kept understrict control by the MPLA after the JMPLA'si mplication in the attempted coup by ad isillusioned faction of the MPLA against its leadership in 1977,the JMPLA onlyhad around 4,000 members after "rectification." It was as mall cadre organization with limited pervasion in the Angolan society.⁶⁰ The MPLA alsoi dentifieds erious deficiencies in the JMPLA with regards to its level of activity,politicization, and social responsibilities towards the country'sy outh.⁶¹ Documents by the FDJ'sc entral committee show that it understood its relations to the JMPLA as privileged, but was also staunchlyc ritical of "parasitic tendencies" within the JMPLA.⁶² The FDJa nd JMPLA agreed that the brigades were supposedtocontributetothe political profile of the JMPLA and support its development into am asso rganization.⁶³ The FDJo ffered material support to the JMPLA, inter alia by printing brochures. The brigades themselvesj oined through work services, for example by setting up aJ MPLA youth club in premises that had been "in colonial times an ight club, called To the Black Diamond."⁶⁴ The Brigaden weref urther integratedi nto political cooperation by the leadership of bothyouth organizations as they wereexpectedtooffer political training to JMPLA functionaries. Togetherw ith the local JMPLA,t he Brigaden therefore drafted workingp rograms and held joint political forums or information events on various East German political customs or events.⁶⁵ The JMPLA chapters respectively celebrated important Angolan political occasions with the brigades. Representativeso ft he JMPLA served the Brigaden as gate keepers and intermediaries to the political reality of Angola and accompanied them on excursions to Angolan companies or the remoter ural area.⁶⁶ The official encounters between members of the FDJand the Angolan youth of the JMPLA werenot limited to Angola. Five places at the Wilhelm Pieck academyo ft he FDJi nB ogensee werer eserved for JMPLA members throughout the 1980s and apermanent representative of the JMPLA supervised youngAngolans studying and workinginthe GDR in the second half of the 1980s.⁶⁷ Furthermore, information, formalized greetings,a nd delegations weree xchanged steadily. In March 1980,aJMPLA delegation visited Ludwigsfelde wherethe IFAW50 trucks exported to Angola weremanufactured. Extendingapractice known from Angola and interlinkingtheir respective activities, alocal youth brigade in the factory was awarded the honorary title "Dr.A gostinho Neto" to celebrate theircontribution.⁶⁸ In fact,the most significant recurringmoment of the mutual confirmation of solidarity within Angola was the annual bestowal of the brigade'shonorary title, the name of an Angolan "martyr" to the "revolution," awarded by the Angolan side.⁶⁹ Names like "Daniel Dangereux," am ember of the FAPLA general staff who had been killed duringt he attempted coup in May1 977, ⁷⁰ signifiedt hat the Angolan armya nd the German brigades werel eading one unified struggle. This subtlyc onfirmed the assumed intrinsic links between everydaya cts, such as the maintenanceo fW 50 trucks, and the global cause of anti-imperialism. In its struggle for the honorary title, the friendship brigade "Comandante Bula," alson amed after av ictim of the coup, accordinglya rgued: "His name is honor and obligation to us. […]B ut the disputes continue.
[…]T he support which we can offer to the country [of Angola], is to guarantee the operability of the agrariant echnologyi no ur province."⁷¹ The internationalist role of the brigades wasf urther reflected by the diaries in the frequent exchanges with Soviet,Bulgarian, or Vietnamese personnelnext to the dominating Cuban presence.⁷² The collectiveso fi nternationalists shared  "Information über den Aufenthalteiner Delegation des Zentralrates der FDJinder VR Angola vom25. 10. -2.11.1989," SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/14424".F  extensive social contacts of friendlyvisits or good-spirited sports competitions,⁷³ for example marking the International Worker'sD ay as ag lobalized event now also linked to anti-colonialist causes.⁷⁴ Beyond these official expressions of friendship with Angolans and internationalists emphasizing ac ommon sense of mission,⁷⁵ the brigaded iaries also occasionallym entioned more "spontaneous" and "surprising" get-togethers, implicitlyg ivinga ccounts of theiru sually structured, mediated, and planned character:⁷⁶ "On the eveo fJ anuary 22, whereactually nothing special was going on, ten youth friends of the JMPLA suddenlyc ame to us […]. They brought tapes with Angolan music with them and asked us to the playt hosef or them as they didn'th aveac assette deck. […] Foru si tw as interesting as well to gett ok now the Angolan folk, Schlager pop songsa nd rock music for once." These types of diary entries always referred to the brigade as awhole, while individual members onlyfeatured as representativesofalargercollective and its common struggle. This was because of fundamental collectivist orientations in GDR society,⁷⁷ but also duet ot heir nature as collectively produced sources for the perusal of alimited public. This collectivist rather than individualized framing,with its most direct expression in the almostexclusive use of "we" throughout the respectivea rticles, was reinforcedb yt he fact thatt he brigade members spent theirfree time mostlyt ogetherd ue to constantlybemoaned languagebarrier as wellasconcerns of political control among the GDR authorities and security risks.⁷⁸ At the same time, the sources omit mentioningmore informal encounters between the brigade members and the Angolan counterparts or other internation- alists beyond the recourse to official socialist group encounters. The Angolan addressees of East Germansolidarity mostlyappeared in the diaries as willing apprentices of East German skills in the workplace and political activists in socialist organizations. Apart from the bestowal of individual honorary titles, namely for the "best Angolan colleagues" of the month, the Angolan contacts weresubsumed undera morphous abbreviations and collective descriptions such as "the JMPLA,"" Angolan friends," or just as "Angolans." Givent hatu nofficial contacts,n ot to speak of intimate relationships,w ere discouraged by the SED functionaries who rant he operational command in Luanda, and probablyt he brigade leaders in each brigade as well, they would not have been included in the Tagebücher. This lack of reports on individual encounters underlines the impression of the tight rigidity of the Brigaden'sofficially acceptable (inter)actions. Entries on festivities to official occasions do, however,o ftenh int to more informal possibilities "to cement the friendship" usually duringo ra fter banquets.⁷⁹

The Exercise of Solidarity: Seeing like a Brigadist
The reports in the diaries presented in the chapter abover eflected the brigade collectives' mission of "enacting solidarity":⁸⁰ the diaries immediatelyconnected work dutiesw ith the struggle of the MPLA for as ocialist society in the official affirmative reports of solidarity.However,the reports written from astronger personal perspective in the focus of this chapter went beyond the officializedsolidarity discourse-and possiblycliché. While the section abovewas seeing with us like an East German state,⁸¹ this one seeks to sourcet he visions of solidarity of individual Brigadisten.
The Brigadisten themselvess till dedicated the most space and reflection on their dailyw ork and its impact,which stressed ap ractical interpretation of the brigades' presence. The Brigadisten frequentlyi dentifiedm aterial shortages or technical difficulties as the ultimate challenges to "modernization" in Angola.⁸² This reflects arather technocratic understanding of theircontribution as well as the fact that such languagec ould servea sasafeguard against the shallows of political phrasing.Inthis context,the brigade members sought to stimulate technical innovations by giving Neuerervorschläge, "innovation proposals" common in the GDR,t oo vercome specific technicalp roblems.⁸³ The so-called "innovators' movement" (Neuererbewegung), as an official GDR policy and means to gete xtrap ayments for successful innovations,⁸⁴ aimed at promotingi ndividual initiativest oi ncrease economic productivity.T ransplanting this "movement" to Angolawas an attempt to export characteristic means of East Germanw ork organization.⁸⁵ The innovation proposals documented in the diaries reflected understandings of standardized and regularized work organization and the assumed possibility to directlyt ransfer them to war-tornA ngola as well.⁸⁶ As such workp rocesses were described in great detail throughout the diaries,⁸⁷ the Germans perceived "creativity" and "ingenuity" as their most important qualities: theiri ndividual initiative and readiness to take inconvenient steps were presented as indispensable assets within the Angolan context.T he Brigadisten understood this set of skills and qualities as honed in the GDR in response to material shortages and technological deficiencies. They assumed that they could make use of these skills in the Angolan economy, in theirviewcharacterized by similar problems. Both the assumption of ingenuity as atypical East German skill as well as the link drawnb etween the economic conditions illustrate how the experiencesinAngola illuminated the own background of the Brigadisten to them and how they deduced theirr olei nA ngola from it.
Through theirday-to-day work in the car workshops,repair missions for coffee harvesting machines, and in vocational training,the Brigadisten were sure to not onlyachievetangible economic progress but also directlyimpact theirAngolan partners: "Our work did not onlyhavestatistical value but had an absolutely real effect for our Angolan friends."⁸⁸ In this context,the brigade members understood themselvesasirreplaceable mentors: "Who but us could attend to that work?"⁸⁹ Thereby,the East Germans positioned themselvesas"benefactor" of the Angolans,s ince the formerp resented themselvesa st he bearers of further progressed knowledge to be passed on to the Angolan colleagues. The aim was for the Angolans to pick up the East German dedication to work to "raise the individual responsibility and interest in participation," as one Brigadist described the mission.⁹⁰ The Angolan co-workers wereg enerallya ssumed to be willing learners, but still lacking these necessary qualities so that "responsibilities [could] onlyslowlybetransferred."⁹¹ In this waythe Brigadisten also legitimized their continued presence. The Brigadisten'sfocus on the dissemination of knowledge and their positioning as educators of the Angolans highlights the projection of inequality and hierarchization in supposedlyhorizontal solidarity relations.⁹² The focus on practical work, still communicated within the collective as common and shared experiences, was supplemented by broader reflections of the individual Brigadisten on their own "African adventure,"⁹³ as it was an extraordinary privilegefor GDR citizens to travel overseas.⁹⁴ The exoticist expectations of Brigadisten⁹⁵ reportingontheir first dayinAngola were, however,reliablycurbed by impressions of dirt,the staggeringly frequent mention of which speaks to the anticipation of an unspoiled "Africa" (but possiblyalsooftheir lacking prep- "ZweiterS anza Pombo Report," SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/20213.  "ZweiterS anza Pombo Report," SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/20213.  "Einige Gedanken zu den Ergebnissen unserer Zusammenarbeit mit Enama," SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/20123.  "Unsere Werkstatt," SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/20123.  To al arge extent,the idea of international solidarity in the GDR was based on the assumption of ashared opposition between East Germans and their partners in solidarity against global forces, such as imperialism.F rom this perspective,the hierarchizedunderstanding of solidarity seems ill-fitting. On the other hand, solidarity has been described as ac ontradictory concept, which could also include the connection to ag roupp erceiveda sd ifferent,o ri nn eed, finding an expression in humanitarian action. While not represented to alarge extent in the GDR'ssolidarity discourse, the perspectivesofthe Brigadisten rather have their rootsinthe latter form. See Kurt Bayertz, Solidarität: Begriff und Problem (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1998), 49.  "Meine Einreise in die VR Angola und die Fahrt nach Uíge," SAPMO-BArch,D Y2 4/20213.  "Ausd em täglichen Leben der FDJ-Freundschaftsbrigade Gabela," SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/ 20215; "Exkursion nach Massangano, "" Erste Eindrücke," SAPMO-BArch DY 24/19129.  The expectationscommunicated in such reports, which come close to travelogues, had been co-shaped by East German media coverage. Fora na nalysis of the projections by ap rominent East German journalist, see Bodie'sc ontribution in this volume. aration or Germanbabbittry).⁹⁶ As one brigade member observed: "The capital of Angolamade avery depressing impression on me, since everything was still different as Ihad imagined.
[…]Ispent three days in Luanda and slowlygot used to half-finishedh ouses, ever changingscents,a nd auto wrecks along the roads."⁹⁷ Similarly,t he misery observeda mong Angolans was addressed throughout the diaries, raising the awarenesso f" how much help this country needed to eliminate all the poverty still present."⁹⁸ This writer'se xplicit disgust with the presenceo f" shoe shine boys" is tellingb ecause their service represented to him the continuation of exploitative economic structures in ap ost-colonial setting.A sitw as not possible to criticize the MPLA'sn ascent socialism, such continuing deficiencies wereunderstood and presented as remnants of capitalism or neo-colonialism.
Indeed, the writers of the Brigadetagebücher often pointed to Angolan "backwardness,"" ignorance," and even "darkness" in opposition to East German progress showcasingh ow myriad forms of hierarchical thinking wereb eneath the languageo fs olidarity.⁹⁹ Adopting the anti-colonial discourse common in the GDR,they located the causeso fthese miseries in the legacies of Portuguese colonial rule. Thesewerediscovered and discussed by the Brigadisten in reports on excursions to the splendor of churches, graveyards,orresorts of the colonial eraj uxtaposed with concrete impressions of hardships,f or example in leprosy villages. Reassuringly, these contradictions werea bout to be overcomeb yt he MPLA state with the active support of the Brigaden themselves.¹⁰⁰ Against the backdrop of their perceptions of Angolan "backwardness," many writers in the Tagebücher expressed their own humanitarian concern and desires to relieveAngolans from the starkest effects of poverty.The occasions of such reflections weref ound in the handover of donations, for example of clothes collected in the GDR,collective work services, or visitstopartnerclasses in Angolan schools. The Brigadisten showered neighboringc hildren, clothed them or fed them with German-style sandwiches (Stullen).¹⁰¹ Individual brigade members thereby set up their own "aid projects" reflective of theirs elf-imagea sb enefactors.T his certainlya ttests to the potential for independent positioning among brigade members.
Despite the fact that individual Brigadisten put their owne mphasesi nt heir activities, the personal reflections in the Brigadetagebücher expectedlyd id not criticize the politics of GDR solidarity.T he Angolan partners were not directly criticized either.Their praise, for example of the "open atmosphere" in Angolan political conventions, is telling, however.I tp ointst ot he opinion of individual Brigadisten thats uch as pirit was lacking in their owno rganization.¹⁰² The futility of relief as well as work efforts,¹⁰³ not least due to the lack of supplies, found frequent expression in the diaries. Open dissatisfaction and doubts seemed acceptable in acontext that explicitlysubscribedtothe pursuit of solidarity duties and their insufficient fulfillment.B rigade members,t he initially quoted poet Rudi among them, oftenc riticized the lack of spare parts. The expressions of discontent even extended to direct,c ollectively voiced criticism of the organizational priorities among superiors. Thisw as the case when assigned tasks did not seem to align with the brigades' central objective and their Angolan partners' assumed main interest to maintain trucks: "One was not pleased, however,t hat just in the last week of our deployment […]apart of our Brigadisten was kept from repairing the ENAMA trucks.

Conclusion
The diariesreflect avariety of "socialist encounters" between the Freundschaftsbrigaden and their Angolan colleagues or political partners as well as theirconsequences. Within this context,t his contribution has focused on the expressed subjectivities of the Brigadisten,p resentingarangeo fp erspectiveso riginating in solidarity conceptions common in the GDR,b ut alsoe merging from their experiences on the spot in their temporary Angolan workplaces.Overall, the individual reflections of Brigadisten on their service were shaped by their emphasis on the impact of their work and on theirp osition mediating the technologies to overcome the assumed "ignorance" of the Angolan society as well as relieving Angolans of crass expressions of misery.
The Brigadisten believed it their mission to help "modernize" aMPLA-ruled Angolaalong socialist lines. Regarding their work assignments,they emphasized skills and concrete techniquesofmanagement known from the GDR as solutions to be adopted and adapted in the nascent socialist economyo fA ngola. In their living environments,t he Brigadisten werea cutelyu nsettled by the encountered social realities of Angolan life in response to which they spontaneously took on the responsibility to provide aid,for example through concrete humanitarian action.S uch relief efforts as well as the fact that the Brigadisten sawthemselves as "agents of modernization" at the workplace reaffirmed hierarchical relations between the East German benefactors and theirs upposedlyd ependent beneficiaries. This stood in an uneasy relationship with the equality proclaimed as a basic principle of solidarity by the GDR'sleadership, but can stillberooted within the contradictory implications of the solidarity concept.¹⁰⁵ Schematic portrayalso ft heir Angolan counterparts remained prevalent in the "diaries." These sources thereforeare in manyinstances of limited use to understand the reciprocal effects of the relations;i nt heiru nilateral nature they mostlyhint at certain entanglements. Moving on from this study, it would be crucial to find ways to account for the question of how African actors(re)produced, reflected, and rejected specific perspectivesonsolidarity relations in co-dependence and interactionwith theirEastern "friends," whom they oftenlocated in the global North givent heir relative wealth.¹⁰⁶ Still, despite their imbalances and limitations in portraying African actors and dynamics of entanglements, the sources give ac lear indication of the positioning of the East German Brigadisten. The imageo ft he Angolan realities presented in the diaries positively reflected on the GDR through the lens of solidarity.The service in Angolahad the potential to stabilize the East German order in the minds of Brigadisten since Angolan misery proved to them how much material progress had alreadyb eena chieved in the GDR,f or example in the social sector: "Our life and our work in ad eveloping country is instructive to us all and fills us with gratitude and recognitiono fo ur socialist healthc are and its achievements."¹⁰⁷ Yet, the brigademembers did not present themselvesasactors in apressing ideological confrontation-although correspondent reflections on anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism would have seemed self-evident concerns in the context of the internationalized civil war in Angola. Whereas Toni Weis identifies a "politics machine" at work in the GDR'ss olidarity discourse and practices, the diary entries of the Brigadisten do not transmit an explicitly "politicized" understandingorideologized expressions of their activities, focusing on actual mechanics of aid instead. TheGDR leadership'sofficial politicized statements of solidarity co-existed with the brigade members' emphasis on managingt he concrete challenges to (socialist) modernization. Thereby,t hey established their own "workingmisunderstanding" within the structure of the Freundschaftsbrigaden,a ccommodating quite different emphases in interpretations of the GDR'sr ole in Angola, even if both werew ithin the scope of international solidarity at large.
The brigade members' assumedr ole as agents of modernization partlyconfirms Westad'se mphasis on interventions in the name of modernization as a useful frame for the interpretation of the globalC oldW ar.The diaries do, however,challengeW estad'sfocus on pronouncedlyideological, that is explicitlypolitical, interpretations of such modernization and, by consequence, diminish the importance of competition with its capitalist or imperialist variation for the case of the Brigadisten. Although it was as elf-evident opportunitytofill the spaceof the "diaries" with clichéphrases of anti-imperialism, the Brigadisten did not engage in political rhetoric.¹⁰⁸ Rather,their writing highlights the impact of a "de- "Unser Leben und unsereA rbeit in einem Entwicklungsland ist für uns alle sehr lehrreich u. erfülltu ns mit Dank u. Anerkennungf ür unser sozialistischesG esundheitswesen und seine Errungenschaften."" Gedanken zum Weltgesundheitstag am 7. April 1983," SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/20215; "Tagd es Gesundheitswesens," SAPMO-BArch, DY 24/19129.  While it is certainlyhardlypossible to interpret 'modernization' with its baked-in teleology and aspirations in non-ideological terms and thereby extract ideology fromi t, my argument is velopmentalist paradigm" understood as a "humanitarian mission of modernization" as the guiding interpretation of their experiencesi nt he postcolonial world.¹⁰⁹ In this spirit,the brigade poet Rudi concluded the typicalbrigade member'saccomplishments relating to their perceivedmodernizing as well as humanitarian mission to the occasion of their "disentanglement," their heaving out: Du lerntest wahre Not erkennen, warst stets bereit Dich zu bekennen. Tratst ein fürF ortschritt und Verstand, und gabst dein Wissen unverwandt.
Youc ame to see real distress, youw ere ever readyt op rofess. Yous tood up for progress and reason. and steadfastly, youg ave your ken.¹¹⁰