14 A (Post)Socialist Memory Space? East German and Mozambican Memories of Cooperation in Education

In the socialist world, international contacts between national education systems usually developed in the context of bilateral agreements on cooperation and friendship. This was also the case for the People’s Republic of Mozambique (PRM) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Nevertheless, in publications by contemporary actors, the starting point of East German and Mozambican cooperation in education is dated back to the years before Mozambican independence, when several GDR citizens began to work as teachers in underground schools run by the Mozambican liberation movement Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO) in the late 1960s.1 In historiographic representation on behalf of the GDR, this early cooperation in education during the liberation struggle against Portugal is depicted as the cornerstone for further cooperation between the two countries after Mozambican independence in 1975.2 In the 1970s and 1980s a rapidly growing number of East German educational advisors and educators departed to Maputo, with the mission to contribute to the reconstruction of a postcolonial and socialist education system in Mozambique.3 Likewise, Mozambican students entered the GDR to continue their secondary education at the “School of Friendship”4 or to undergo vocational training,5 while


Introduction
In the socialist world, international contacts between national education systems usually developed in the context of bilateral agreements on cooperation and friendship. This was also the casefor the People'sRepublic of Mozambique (PRM) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Nevertheless, in publications by contemporary actors,t he starting point of East German and Mozambican cooperation in education is dated back to the years before Mozambican independence, when several GDR citizens began to work as teachers in underground schools run by the Mozambican liberation movement Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO) in the late 1960s.¹ In historiographic representation on behalf of the GDR,t his earlyc ooperation in education duringt he liberation struggle against Portugal is depicted as the cornerstone for further cooperation between the two countries after Mozambican independence in 1975.² In the 1970sand 1980s arapidlygrowingnumber of East German educational advisors and educators departed to Maputo, with the mission to contributet ot he reconstruction of apostcolonial and socialist education system in Mozambique.³ Likewise, Mozambican students entered the GDR to continue their secondary education at the "Schoolo fF riendship"⁴ or to undergo vocational training,⁵ while other young Mozambicans merelyh oped to receive vocational education in the framework of contract labor in East German enterprises.⁶ Although Mozambican and East German educational trajectories differed quite remarkably, the common experience to work through aforeign and socialist education system offers spacef or some geteilte Erinnerungen ("shared experiences")⁷ from protagonists on both sides. In this context we assume the possibility of asmall-scaleAfro-European "memory space,"⁸ which would presumably lie in between the GDR and Mozambique, nestled in the common educational history of both. This memory space mays eem relatively small, but nevertheless bears the potential of having conserved rich memoriesofthe PRMand the GDRtwo formerlys ocialist (education) systems, whose place in the overall memory culturei nt he respective countries is still being negotiated. Complementary to the overarchingnational debates,this article focuses on the written and personal memorieso fp rotagonists, who were engaged in cross-border educational endeavors and encounters between the PRMand the GDR.Insearch of such memories, we consulted publications that can be combined under the label of "memory literature."⁹ Our analysis aims at catchingaglimpse of (post)socialist worlds  Ilona Schleicher, "Berufsbildung und WirtschaftsbeziehungenD DR -Mosambik," in Engagiert fürA frika:D ie DDR und AfrikaI I ,e d. Ulrich vand er Heyden (Münster:L it,1994).  Ulrich van der Heyden, WolfgangS emmler and Ralf Straßburg, Mosambikanische Vertragsarbeiter in der DDR-Wirtschaft:H intergrund -Verlauf -Folgen (Münster: Lit,2 014); Marcia C. Schenck, "From Luanda and Maputo to Berlin: UncoveringAngolan and Mozambican migrants' motivestomovetothe German Democratic Republic (1979Republic ( -1990," African Economic History 44 (2016).  The German term geteilte Erinnerung has adouble meaning, containinganotion of shared and divided memory at the same time.  Forthe concept of memory spaces see Aleida Assmann, Erinnerungsräume: Formen und Wandlungen des kulturellen Gedächtnisses (Munich: C .H .B eck, 1999).  Memory literaturedoes encompass avariety of written sources,reaching fromhistoricallyinspired and sometimes bestsellingn ovels to self-published memoirs and autobiographical stories.Inliteraturestudies especially, but also in interdisciplinary research dealingwith collective memory,r esearchers seem to favorh istorical novels as objects of analysis.H owever,f or our analysis we selected autobiographicallyinspired books written by amateur authors and contemporary witnesses from the former GDR and Mozambique, that offer personal views on the socialist past in the respectively other country.For adiscussion of German memory literature see Aleida Assmann, "Wemg ehört Geschichte? Faktenu nd Fiktion in der neueren deutschen Erinnerungsliteratur," Internationales Archiv fürS ozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur 36 (2011). See also FriederikeE igler, Gedächtnis und Geschichte in Generationenromanen seit der Wende (Berlin: Erich SchmidtV erlag,2005). ForMozambican memory literaturesee Ana Margarida Fonseca, "(Re)Configurations of Identity:M emory and Creation in the Narrative of Mia Couto," in Mozambique on the Move:C hallenges and Reflections,e d. Sheila Pereira Khan, Maria Paula Meneses,a nd Bjørn Enge Bertelsen (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2018). Also consult of memory,which might have emergedinthe context of GDR-Mozambican cooperation in education. Our argument is that ac ollective memory concerned with state socialism does exist separatelyi nb oth formerlys ocialist states.A tt he same time,p ersonal memory of certain East Germans and Mozambicans transverse these national memory horizons by offering common as wella sd iffering memorieso ft he socialist past of both countries -resulting in am ultiplicity of (post)socialist memory spaces. Accordingly,M illei et al. refert o" (post)socialist spaces" in the plural to "highlight this complexity of the time-spaces of historical socialism and what followed."¹⁰ In the following,wefirst discuss the role of memory literatureinthe context of post-socialist and cross-national rememberingp rocesses. Secondly, we summarizem emory debates on the socialist phase in reunited Germanya nd in post-socialist Mozambique. Thirdly, we present our interpretation of post-socialist memory literature,and finally we discuss the post-socialist memory spacei n between East Germanya nd Mozambique.

Theoretical Considerationso nP ost-socialist MemoryM aking
As as tarting point,wew ant to raise the question whether or not memories of Mozambican and East German expatriates do playapart in (a) post-socialist "memory space" of both countries.¹¹ Picking up this point,westarted wondering about the role of memory literature in the overall memory making in post-socialist spaces like East Germanya nd Mozambique. In Assmann'sc onsiderations, memory literature constitutes agenre that combines personal experience,historic events, and elements of fiction into al iterary text and eventuallyw orks out historical perspectivest hat hitherto did not make it into the collective memory of ag iven society.¹² Consequently, memory literature appears to offer as pace for subliminal memories, situated somewhereinbetween the canonized cultural memory of agiven society and the inter-generational communicative memory of certain groups within this society.¹³ As memory literature maydeliberatelyi ntegrate autobiographical and fictional features into the storyline, such texts are less reliable in terms of historical accuracy.¹⁴ However,s he states that memory literatureoffers aplatform for awide rangeoflittle stories that reflect the bigger history,b ut which remained previouslyu ntold and unheard and are not part of the official narrative.¹⁵ In line with Assmann'si deas, we consider memory literature as avaluable non-academic and personal contribution to collective memory makingo ns ocialist times in both Germanya nd Mozambique.¹⁶ As the memoriesu nder examination emergedi na tl east twon ational contexts and were(re)told by de facto migrants,¹⁷ we would like to address spatiality here. To our understanding, Assmann'sn otion of "memory spaces" refers to (subjective or collective)m emorieso fs pecific places,a nd to (inanimate) spaces of remembrance likeh istorical monuments,t hat transcend personal memory.¹⁸ This understanding of space in memory processes builds upon the concept of lieux de mémoire (translated to "realms of memory")a si ntroduced by Pierre Nora. Noraand colleagues started to explore French history and collective identity through ac onstructivist analysis of concrete memory sites, like the Eiffel  Beck, 2002).  Assmann, "Memory,I ndividual and Collective," 223. According to Assmann, in memory literatureagenerous portion of "fiction" is added into the overall storyline -e. g. events ared escribed rather from an aesthetic point of view,but with no referencetotime or place; or fictional characters areadded intothe plot to makethe text moreconsistent and to synthesize past events for the reader.E vent hough fiction or selective rememberingo ften triumph over "accuracy" in historical novels and autobiographical memoires, such literary products still servea sv aluable sourcesf or understanding past events or past emotions.  Assmann, "Memory,I ndividual and Collective," 222.  Assmann discusses the function of collective memory as aunifyingframeworkfor groups or nations with reference to MauriceH albwachs and PierreN ora. But she also reflects on the potential of latent and "dysfunctional memories" that mayeventuallydelegitimize,correct or complement the official memory framework; see Assmann, Erinnerungsräume,1 31-142. In aw ay, memory literaturea nd autobiographical testimonies mays ervea sc orrespondings upplements to official memory making. Also consult MauriceH albwachs, Das kollektiveG edächtnis (Stuttgart: Enke, 1967 tower,but also through immaterial sites,l ike symbols or social divisionsw ithin the country.¹⁹ Although these lieux wereh ighlyr elevant for France'sn ational identity,N ora'si nitial selection wasc ritiqued for overlooking transnational aspects of French identity, such as lieux connected to France'si nglorious colonial past.²⁰ Nevertheless,N ora'sc oncept proved useful for similar projects in other European countries.²¹ In addition to such national adaptations,N ora'sc oncept of lieux fostered an international discussion on the possibility of collective memory making beyond the "national container" as as patial unit.²² Over the years, scholars have reworked Assmann's "memory spaces" and Nora's lieux de mémoire by applying their conceptst ot he transnational level.²³ But how can one capturerather immaterial memory landscapes on socialist pasts that seem entangled in-between two countries (and continents)? Foro ur purpose, we found the concept of "travelling memory"²⁴ and the corresponding discussion about transnationality in the field of memory studies helpful.²⁵ Within this framework memories rather emerge from cross-border movement of people and media²⁶ then from circumscribed places or national boundaries.²⁷ As we  PierreN ora and LawrenceD .K ritzmann, Realms of Memory: Rethinking the French Past, Vol. 1 -3 (New York: Columbia University Press,1996-1998.  Etienne Achille, Charles Forsdick, Lydie Moudileno,P ostcolonial Realmso fM emory: Sites and Symbols in Modern France (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press,2020). This critique is especiallyt rue to Nora'sp ublicationso nt he French republic and nation, whereas the later volumes on "LesF rances" did also exploret he historical roleo fm igrants or religious minorities within French society.S ee relevant chapters in Nora   An impressive example of travellingm emory items mayb ef ound in East German media products, likepopular music or video cassettes that were brought to Maputo suburbs by Mozambican worker-trainees returningfromthe GDR.The long-lasting impact of this groupofreturnees and their souvenirs on urban culture in Maputo is documented in this volume (see Fernando navigate within the context of global socialism and analyze written testimonies on binational exchanges in education, we find the perspective of travelling memories intriguing.Although plots connected to transnationalidentity building are highlighted in this strand of research, researchers rarelyf ocus on the transnational,s ocialist experience in memory literature.²⁸ Ar emarkable contribution is the studyo fG ronenthal, who divedi nto aw orld of nostalgia in East German and Polish literature and worked out post-socialist nostalgia as at ransnational phenomenon.²⁹ Furthermore, there is an interdisciplinary interest in what was labeled "Eastalgia"³⁰ or "post-communist nostalgia"³¹ within memory literature, but manyc ontributions stayf ocused on the European memory space.³² So, how to examine the Afro-European experience of rememberings ocialism? In this regard we find the discussion connected to "post-socialism" in educational science inspiring,³³ because the authorsd on ot stayw ithin the European framework, but decisivelytransverse the global scale whenresearching socialist experienceso fs chooling,e ducation, and childhood from all over the world.³⁴ The authors approach the socialist past through personal memories and contrast these memoriesw ith official narrativeso nc hildhood in socialist states, as well as evaluations on this past in scientific and public discourses.During their analysis,t he researchers seek to "think with" memoriesw hile "thinking through" childhood and the everydayl ife in socialist education systems. In that framework, they give attention to collective negotiation processes of that socialist past in the post-socialist spaceand also examine their own role in such processes -both as memory holders and as scientists engaged in the generation of knowledge about the socialist past.³⁵ Before moving to our analysis of individual memoriesbyformerlyeducational travelers, we wish to brieflyexplore the course of collective remembering in bothp ost-socialist societies. Fort hat purpose, we will dive into public debates on the socialist past in post-socialist Germany and Mozambique and compare remembrancei nb oth local contexts.  Millei, Silova, and Gannon, "ThinkingT hrough," 3. We fit into the category of researches born in socialist systems (Poland and Mozambique), and to acertain extent we sharethe experienceo fc hildhood in socialism with the authors citeda bove. At the same time, we sharet his experiencew ith the authors of the memory books we use for our analysiso fc ross-national remembering of socialism. Therefore, we agreewith Millei et al. that writingabout asocialist past that -in bits and pieces -seems related to one'sown biographycan be amethodologicallychallenging venture, especiallyw ere "collective biography collapses the binary that separates the knowledge generating expert fromt he layperson remembering." Ibid.

Remembering Socialismi nP ost-socialist Germany and Mozambique
In Germanand Central European memory debates,state socialism is considered as ignificant period for contemporary historiography.³⁶ Historians conductedr esearch on state socialism from the 1990s onwards and results on socialist education in the former GDR were graduallyw oven into the overall German memory discourse. Studies on socialist education in the GDR examined political indoctrination in schools and mechanisms of sanction within the education system, among other rather unpleasant topics.³⁷ These negative aspects of GRD education wered iscussed publiclya nd receivedaprominent place in the collective memory making in unifiedG ermany.³⁸ Nevertheless,the collective memory on the formerGDR livedthrough considerable inner-Germanc ontroversies in the post-1990s eraa nd,i nterestingly enough,i tr emains ac ontested memory space up-to-date.³⁹ What lies at the coreo fs uch controversies?T he German historian Martin Sabrow sums up that at least three narrativesa re concurringf or hegemonyi nG DR historiography. The first focuses on totalitarianism and the malice of dictatorship (official mem- ory politics), the second praises the fruits of socialist progress (former GDR functionariesand supporters of the system), and the third paints apicture of adjustment and "comingt ot erms" with the GDR system ("Arrangementgedächtnis" of averageG DR citizens).⁴⁰ Although in 1998 the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship was initiated to deal with the various aspects of life in the GDR and ac ommon German memory discourse,⁴¹ critics observe that in public debate the SED state'ssurveillance apparatus and the one-party dictatorship of the SED prevailed as am ajor topic. With this emphasis, public attention wasrightlypaid to the victims of the SED state, but the memory horizonofa probablyl arge majority of GDR citizens was disregarded. Manyoft he less spectacular tales on everydayl ife in the GDR ended up being less visiblei nt he collective memory of unified Germany, but stayedc onserved in the communicative memory of East Germans. This maybee xemplified by the diverging perceptions of GDR history as expressed by school pupils from East and West.⁴² West German pupils tend to associate the GDR with repression, as told in school, and horrifying stories about "passing the inner-Germanb order," as told by Western family members. East Germanp upils, on the other hand, rather blendp ersonal "reminiscences of original history" and local patriotismi nto the historical narrative, while they tend to trivialize the context of the dictatorship.⁴³ Such memory disparities point towards astillongoing process of Germanre-unification and identity building,inwhich memory making does playaprominent part.Accordingly, the memory discourse on the socialist past of Eastern Germanycontinues to be a worthwhile research agenda in unifiedG ermany.⁴⁴  Sabrow, "Zeitgeschichtea ls Aufarbeitung," 28-29.  Forf urther information see https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/.  The correspondings tudyw as based on moret han 200i nterviews with school pupils from Lower Saxony, as wellasW estern and Eastern Berlin; see SabineMoller, "Diktatur im Familiengedächtnis:A nmerkungen zu Widersprücheni mG eschichtsbewusstsein vonS chülern," in Aufarbeitung der Aufarbeitung:D ie DDR im geschichtskulturellen Diskurs,e d. Saskia Handro (Schwalbach: Wochenschau-Verlag,2 011), 140 -141. In the case of Mozambique, colonialism and the post-independencet ransition to state socialism have an outstanding relevance for the country'sh istory and, accordingly, also its educational development.S till it seems that state socialism as ap ostcolonial development phase (around 1975 -1990)t ends to be overlooked in current memorial debates and in research on Mozambican history of education.⁴⁵ Instead, rememberingt he struggle for independence and an educations ystem in the FRELIMO-run "liberated zones" during the 1960s are points of interest in the country'sc urrent politics of remembrance.⁴⁶ Thus, expectations on how to deal with the socialist past are quite different in post-socialist Mozambique and Germany.
The prerogative of interpreting the Mozambican past until todayr emained with FRELIMO. Since independence, FRELIMO continues to exercise control over the "mechanisms of engaging with the past and writing the national narrative of the war" as ruling party.⁴⁷ This would also include muzzlingu nwanted memories. However,s poradic explosions of remembrance in public debatesa c-companyF RELIMO'sc hanneled politics of forgetting.F or example, the former warring factions FRELIMOa nd RENAMO would maintain general silence on the civil war on most occasions,a nd thereby follow the "the imperative for attaining peace and political stability."⁴⁸ Still, both parties occasionallyuse public memory debates to reinvigorate old rivalries with their former war opponents. Election campaigns are used to accuse the other side of respective war crimes, and regular "interruptions of silence" in the Mozambican parliament occur during these periods.⁴⁹ But outside of the public space, an unspoken silence agree- ment seems to prevail, as explained by aparliamentary deputy of RENAMO: "the people that insult one another in the parliament, when they meet in a barraca [a hut wherea lcohol is sold] they don'tt alk about the bad thingso ft he past."⁵⁰ Did the educational history marked by socialism in Mozambique fall into oblivion, because the samet ime period was overshadowed by civil war,o rw as it simplynolonger important?I tseems that FRELIMOnowadays has little interest to dwell on memoriesofthe socialist past.⁵¹ Although street names such as Karl Marx Avenue or Mao TseT ungA venue shape Maputo'surban landscapeand are clear reminders of the socialist past,this samepastseems to have no positive or negative place in official memory.⁵² Pitcher considers in this regard that "[w]ith the implementation of structural adjustment in 1987a nd major constitutional changes since 1990,the government has dropped most reference to socialism."⁵³ At the same time, the scientific interpretationo fM ozambique'ss ocialist phase seems to movewithin "narrativesoftriumph and failure"⁵⁴:while post-independence literaturet endedt og lorify the socialist development,the same phase was generallydeclared as failureinwritingsafter the system change. Contrarytoboth extremes,Pitcher demands that "scholars need to come to terms with the socialist period in Mozambique"⁵⁵ and eventuallym ovea wayf rom both antithetical interpretations.
 Ibid, 551.S uch attempts to break the collective amnesia have been the subject of academic debates in Mozambique, for instance, in the "Philosophical Ateliers" organized by the prominent Mozambican philosopher Severino Ngoenha. These ateliers takep lacei nt he "Garden of the Madgermanes" (a term referringt ot he former Mozambican workers returned from the GDR in Maputo;s ee Machava,t his volume). In this context, discussions have often been associated with the theme of revisitingt he past to construct national reconciliation and to activate citizenship. Meetings are announced via social media channels likeF acebook in agroupnamed "Atelier Filosófico";s ee group content on Facebook Inc., accessedJ uly2 6, 2020,h ttps://www. facebook.com/Atelier-Filos%C3%B3fico-2217100891889370/. Remembering Each Other: MozambicanM emory and "Remembering Mozambique" in (East) German MemoryL iterature After brieflyr ecapitalizing the collective memorym aking on the socialist erai n both countries,wew ould like to focus on the personal memories of Mozambicans and East Germans about each other. From the preceding section we conclude that neither Mozambique plays ac entral role in Germanh istoriography, nor does East Germanya ppear to be central to Mozambican memory debates. Nevertheless,wefound pieces of common memories of socialist times in German as well as Mozambican memory literature. Such memories werer ecollected by East Germans and publishedw ith af ocus on "remembering Mozambique" and the authors' mission in Africa, as well as by Mozambicans who publishedp ersonal testimonies about their livesi nt he GDR.⁵⁶ Although the chosen memory sources are written from the perspective of temporary migrants and therefore "outsiders" to the givens ociety,t hey may be of complementary relevancef or each other,f or at least twor easons.F irst, we would maintain that memory literature published by Mozambicans contributes to include non-German perspectivesi nto memory spaces connected to the GDR.⁵⁷ Remarkablye nough, non-German rememberingo ft he GDR occasionally results to be rather benevolent whenc ompared to the inner-Germand ebates.⁵⁸ From time to time even ab reeze of nostalgia seems to flyt hrough Mozambican memorieso ft he GDR.⁵⁹ The bitter sweetness of rememberingana dolescencea s worker trainees in East Germanycan be traced by the rousingstories of Mozambican returnees popularlyknown as "Madjermanes."⁶⁰ Second, we hold that selected East German memory books preserved aw ide rangeo fm emorieso ft he People'sR epublic of Mozambique. Associated memories of socialist Mozambi- All consulted memory sourcesa re listed in the bibliographys ection.  Forf urther readingonn on-German perspectivesc onsultK unze and Vogel, Ostalgie international.  West-German novelists,f or instance, tend to present a "negativep ortrayal of the GDR." Stuart Parkes, "Literary Portrayals of the GDR by Non-GDR citizens," in TheG DR Remembered: Representations of the East German State Since 1989,ed. Nick Hodgin and Caroline Pearce (Camden House: Boydell &B rewer,2 011), 66. que mostlye mergedi nt he context of East German workingv isits. Such visits wererather rare and onlydesignated GDR citizens werea llowed to travel to foreign countries in the 1970sa nd 1980s.⁶¹ The samei st rue for most Mozambican citizensatt hat time. It seems though that especiallyt hatexceptionality of Afro-European contacts between nominallysocialist partners contributed to the intensity of emotional memories on such encounters.⁶² In this regard, we found the cooperation in education between the GDR and PRMt ob eaproductive ground for recollecting common as well as uniquem emorieso fs uch encounters. What we found werem emorieso ff ormer colleagues, teachers or students, memories of educational institutions, memories of pedagogic settings, and, most remarkably, of the everydaylife in asocialist world -aworld that for both Mozambican and East German memoryb earers disappeared in the early1 990s.

Interpretation of MemoryL iterature and Memories of Cooperation in Education
While reviewing the available memory literature by Mozambicans on socialist Germanya nd by East Germans on socialist Mozambique, it became apparent that publicationsc onnected to educational cooperation are few in number,b ut still rich in content.⁶³ The following section is devoted to the multifold memories of everydayl ife in bothc ountries as represented in published memoires of former expatriates or studentsintheir respective professional and privatesettings.⁶⁴  Followingour research interest,weidentified 16 publications referringtocontexts of educational exchange between the GDR and Mozambique. From that data corpus,wechose five memory books and five articles from editedv olumes for in-depth analysis and used them as textual frameworkf or carvingo ut traces of common memory on both countries.A lthough almost all texts were published in German, four narrators areo fM ozambican origin. To counterbalance this perspectival distortion in favoro fw ritten testimonies in the German language, we would liketorecommend the relevantchapters in this volumethat primarilyr elyonoralhistorysourcesf romf ormer Mozambican workert rainees and werea ctuallyc onductedi nP ortuguese (see Machava;A lbertoa nd Schenck,t his volume).

Packing Bags and Imagining "the Other"
To begin with, it is worth mentioningt hat both Mozambican and East German memory texts extensivelyc omment on the other society from the perspective of aguest or migrant.The first impressions upon arrival wererelatively dominant for the perception of the other country.But the phase before arrival is also often described, because authorsstarted to imagine the country of destination in their home country already. Especiallyi nt he arrival context,a uthors realized that they had eventuallydeemed themselvessomewhat closer to paradise then reality in the host country would allow.A lthough the termp aradise seems ab it exaggerated, we read that for both Mozambicans and East Germans the respective other country offered an otion of paradise-or at least of adventure and escape-in the phase before theira rrival. Nevertheless, there was as lightlydifferent emphasis on what paradise might meanf or East Germans compared to Mozambicans.Wewill elaborate on these nuances of paradise-or Promised Landwhile following the memoriesofFrank and Ibraimo. The GDR citizen Frank is the protagonist of aGerman memory fictionbook.⁶⁵ Mozambican-born Ibraimo is the author of his own autobiography.⁶⁶ While Frank travelled southwards to work as educational advisor for the Mozambican government and being aprofessionally experienceda dult,⁶⁷ the young man Ibraimo traveled northwards to pursue further education, but found himself as ac ontractw orker in the GDR.
 The novel'sauthor himself has worked in Mozambique in the education sector; Helmut Dora, Kokos und bitterer Tee: Tage und Nächte in Mosambik (Rostock: BS-Verlag, 2009). We categorized this novel as amemory fiction book, because it combines elementsofMr. Dora'sa utobiographical experienceofw orking in Mozambique with fictional elements,likethe use of alter egos for the characters in the book. The use of alter egos certainlyw as meant to protect his former colleagues' identities and their privatel ife, but also gave the author morefreedom for interpreting his own past -with all its delicatedetails,like aloveaffair or other drama. The novel'sprotagonist,for instance, was renamed to "Frank",but the main storylineofthe books is actuallybuilt around Mr.Dora'sown experienceinMozambique. We were abletoreconstruct this insight, because Mr.D ora was willingt orecall parts of his life story to one of the authors during an interview in 2014.  Ibraimo Alberto, Ich wollte leben wie die Götter:Was in Deutschland aus meinen afrikanischen Träumen wurde (Köln: Kiepenheuer &W itsch, 2014).  We wereshocked to discover that Dora uses the n-wordinhis book. It seems that the author uses the racist terminology moreo ften when it comest ot he description of people fromr ural Mozambique. This selectivity is worth noticing, because then the racializedimagery not onlyencompasses ablack and whitedualism, but also employscategories likerural and urban, educated and uneducated, or colleague and stranger,when it comest or acist terminology.N evertheless,i na tl east one story he refers to ac olleague and friend of his as "the strongn ****." Dora, Kokos,6 9. Havingt his in mind, one could arguet hat title and subtitle also refer to ForF rank,like for most East Germans at thatt ime, workingi nM ozambique offered the opportunity to work and travel abroad, which was agreat privilegeat at ime whenc ross-border movement was stronglyr egulatedo re veni mpossible for most GRD citizens. The East German imaginary world of faraway lands can be exemplified by the daydreamingofFrank. Although Frank was not sure whereto locate Mozambique on ag lobe, his thoughts started traveling there as soon as the employmentoffer was announcedtohim by aGDR ministry.⁶⁸ His daydreaming was harshlyc riticized by his wife Rita: Well. So, youhavealreadyaccepted the job?[…]Without even knowinganythingabout this country,your thoughts are alreadyt here. We have our kids here. What should we do with them?[ … ]M aybe there is racism, or maybe people ares hootingt here. Probablyi t ' sa lso very hot.Wek now nothing -and then, such adventures!⁶⁹ Yet, despite her concerns about their children, her discomfort to leave her "interesting job," and the worries concerning the overall situation in Mozambique, she decides to join Frank on his mission, as she did years before when both migrated to Cuba.⁷⁰ Both protagonists mentiont heirs ense of solidarity as an important motive to participate in Mozambique'sp ost-socialist reconstruction,m eaning the idea of building as ocialist utopia abroad maya lso have playedapart in their vision of faraway Mozambique. Asimilar adventurespirit maybeobserved in the storyline of young Mozambicans, who preponderantlyw eren ot able to travel to Europe due to economic stratification in the post-independence period. Therefore, educational and vocational programs abroad wereembraced as an opportunity to travel. The notion of the GDR as the Promised Land for foreign students is vividlyd escribed by the formerMozambican contract worker Ibraimo, who in his autobiographical record these dichotomies.However,aliteral interpretation is possible as well. "Coconut and Bitter Tea" might then refertoDora'swork with university studentsoncoconut and teaplantations, which is described at length. Besides,wei nterpret that the main story behind the "bitter tea" was that usuallys taff and students gotb lack tea with sugar for breakfast in the canteen, but in times when the civil war was gettingworse therewas alack of sugar,eveninMaputo. Thus,the coconut could stand for the exotic part of his teachingexperience and the "notion of paradise" that manyEasterners associated with the deployment in the Global South, while the bitter tea could represent the hardship of the situation. The subtitle "Days and NightsinMozambique" seems to point towards the intensity of the experience.  Dora, Kokos,12  Dora, Kokos,14. All quotations from memory sourcesweretranslated by Piepiorkaand Buanaissa.  Dora,Kokos,15. remembers thato ne dayh ea nd his fellow students found as cholarship announcement at school. The youngsters quicklyd ecide to take theirc hancet o go abroad and register on the application list: We conferredwith each other for afew minutes, but the dice have been cast.
[…]Icouldn't imagine becoming ateacher [in Mozambique]. We wanted to getout,get away from the civil war.A nd then therew as one moret hing:I nt he GDR white people werel iving. The Gods. It ook ap encil out of my pocket.
[ … ]W ew erer eadyt ot ravelt ot he land of Gods.⁷¹ Interestingly enough the initiallyp ositive notions on "the other" wereb ased upon very little actual knowledge.Insome narrativesthe main characters initially even had difficulties to locate the respectivelyothercountry on amap.⁷² Preparations to fill in such knowledge gaps wereorganized by official authorities before embarkment,b ut ac omparative glances uggests thatt raining contents varied immenselyi nE ast Germanya nd Mozambique. Furthermore, students, teachers,blue-collar,a nd white-collar professionals from bothc ountries reported that the content of their training coursesd id not necessarilym eet the learners' needs. This can be illustrated in the recollections of Rita and Frank,who during preparatory training in the GDR werea stonished thatm ost of their Portuguesel anguaget eachers had never visited Mozambique themselves. Only one of them-upon request from the East German participants-shared some knowledge about colonial Mozambique. But his knowledge was limited to topics like architecture or general orientation in the capital city and did not cover cultural insights, which was registered by the participants with slight disappointment.⁷³ Likewise, the Mozambican Ibraimo remembers that the training he and his fellows receivedd id not reallyp repare them for what awaited them in the GDR,b ecause it rather appeared to be am ilitary camp than ap reparations course for future workers and students. Instead of learning German vocabulary or intercultural habits,for instance,the prospective workers had to march about 40 kilometers per day. Ibraimo found this confusing, but accepted the military drill as he was convinced that it was for the sake of his future education.⁷⁴ An  Alberto, Ich wollte leben,77. Ibraimo'si mage of white people was strongly related to Portuguese colonialism. In his memory,white Portuguese acted like "Gods" whocommanded over live and death in colonial Mozambique.  This was also the case for Frank and Ibraimo:Dora, Kokos,13-14;Alberto, Ich wollte leben, 77.  Dora, Kokos,1 7.  Alberto, Ich wollte leben,8 0-81. East Germanp hysician confirmed to him duringt he application proceduret hat they weretostudyand even getinterpreters until they learned German, so Ibraimo had no reason to wonder about the lack of languagec lasses.⁷⁵ Furthermore, the Mozambican instructor in the military-likec amp explainedt hat the adolescents must exercise well in order to keep up with the GDR citizens, who in his account werew orkingf rom dawn to night.A ccordingt oI braimo, "the man was serious about that, and we believed him. The foreign GDR expanded into am yth. The people living thered rudgedf rom morning to night and put themselvesi nt he service of communism."⁷⁶ Apart from this,m anyp articipants in preparatory camps did not learn anything about culturals tandards.They did not read booksa bout the GDR,and receivedl ittle further orientation concerning the GDR.⁷⁷ The adolescents and young adults thus discussed unverified stories "about ap henomenon called snow."⁷⁸ Nevertheless, the impendingd eparture to unknown lands filled them with great expectations and excitement.I ti ss triking that both Mozambican and East German narrators extensively describe their travel adventures, which werea ccompanied by stopovers in non-socialist countries,⁷⁹ or first-time flight experiences, as in the caseo fI braimo.⁸⁰

Unpacking Reality and Meeting "the Other"
Another noteworthyaspect in Mozambican and East German memory texts is the wayinwhich authors deal with realities shortlyafter arrival.Insections devoted to arrival, narrators deliberatelyintegrate positive,ambivalent,and negative experiences madeu pon arrivali nto their overall storytelling. Mozambican narrators,f or instance,r eflected on the imbalances between their prior imaginaries and the irritating East Germanr ealities found upon arrival. East German narrators,ont he other hand,rather focused on the exotic nature of the land and the  Alberto, Ich wollte leben,8 6.  Alberto, Ich wollte leben,8 0-81.  In biographical interviews,m anyM ozambican workert rainees stated that information on the GDR was "gatheredthrough hearsayand rumors." Furthermore, prospective migrants rather relied on the "experiences of friends and familymembers" than on official written sources while planningt heir stayi nt he GDR; see Marcia C. Schenck, "From Luanda and Maputo to Berlin," 209.  Ibid.  Dora,Kokos,[19][20][21].  Alberto, Ich wollte leben,100.
overall "newness" of the arrival situation, while postponing critical thoughts to later sections of their narrative.
To illustrate some critical moments of arrival in the GDR,weborrow memories from António, aM ozambican student of economyi nd er GDR.A ntónio remembers the adjustment to the new climate and food customs but considers such adjustments as minor problem. What reallyd iscomforted him though was the lack of contact to German locals. As he has previouslygot to know GDR citizens in Mozambique, he hoped to find "the sames orto fp eople" in the GDR itself. But to his disappointment the East German residents were not as "open and sociable" as theircompatriots workinginMozambique. António describes a "certain distance" thatG DR citizens displayedi ns ocial interactions, which deeply puzzled him.⁸¹ Gabriel, aM ozambican teacher at the School of Friendship in Staßfurt,e venr emembers false allegations against Mozambicans and shares a memory that reveals racist prejudice and an otion of envy for material goods on part of East German locals: "In ay outh fashion storet here werem erely 100 pairs of jeans on offer.F iveM ozambican pupils werea lsoq ueueing there, and maybet wo of them bought jeans.B ut as we wereb lack,weattracted attention, so in the end people would say 'The blacks again bought out everything'. And this again led to tensions."⁸² In search for explanation, Gabriel concludes that probablyt he local people were overwhelmed with receiving 900 foreigners at once in as mall place like Staßfurt.⁸³ On the other hand, manyb ooks contain positive memories of first encounters with GDR citizens. The Mozambican adolescent Eusébio, for instance,was delegated to the GDR in the 1980s to work as atranslator in East German engine plants, whereM ozambican citizens receivedv ocational training or weree mployed as contract workers.⁸⁴ Eusébio recalls some "sympathetic Germans" willing to take care of newlyarrivedMozambicans. In his view, "some of them hung out with us out of curiosity to meet ablack person for the first time; others wished to find out more about our culture."⁸⁵ Eusébio arrivedi nt he GDR in Decem- ber,a nd while playing in the snow,h em ade his first contacts with fellow East German teenagers, who taught him how to ride as ledge.I nr eturn he taught a German friend to dance "ad ance from Africa."⁸⁶ Agenerallypositive memory landscape was outlined by Dieter,anEast German exchangestudent at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo. Dieter'snarrative stresses ahighspirit of camaraderie on the part of his Mozambican fellow students, who helped him to integrate in the academic life after arrival. Dieter recalls that togethert hey organized excursions to nearby beaches and various parties. In Dieter'sm emory, everyone enjoyedt he pleasures of the weekend and onlyo ccasional quarrels disturbed the overall friendlya tmosphere in the Mozambican student dorm. However,n ot all GDR citizens in Mozambique had this kind of contact with locals, and Dieter even remembers notionso fe nvy from fellow GDR citizens in this regard.⁸⁷ The arrival situation was rather different for East German cooperators who traveled to Mozambique as contracted personnel. On arrival at Eduardo Mondlane University,F rank and Rita werew elcomed to the university'sg uesthouse, wheret hey spend three months, before receiving an apartment for the rest of their stayi nM ozambique. In their remembrance, the basic conditions such as water,light,a nd necessary utensils for everydaylife wereminimallyprovided.⁸⁸ But what seemed more exciting for them was meetingt heirn eighborsf rom the Netherlands, France, Russia,orPortugal, who also worked as international cooperators at the university and shared the guesthousew ith them.⁸⁹ Therefore, the first sensation of meeting "the other" in the caseo fF rank was rather related to observing other international cooperators than to meetingh is Mozambican colleagues.⁹⁰ It is interesting,f or instance,t hat Frank'sd escription tends to exoticize his French neighborsinterms of sensuality.⁹¹ Beyond the university'sguesthouse,the environment of Maputoi sdescribed at length as being beautiful and exotic. First contacts with the local population occurred duringalong walk  Dembe, "Os privilegiados," 65.  Dieter Hebestreit, "Als DDR-Student in Mosambik," in Engagiert fürA frika:D ie DDR und Af-rikaI I, ed. Ulrich von der Heyden, Ilona Schleicher,a nd Hans-Georg Schleicher (Münster:L it, 1994), 227 -228.  Dora, Kokos,2 3.  International cooperators fromvarious countries werecontractedinthe Mozambican education sector in the 1970sa nd 1980s. FRELIMO'si nternational recruitment strategy, in the first place, served to substitute the Portuguese professionals wholeft Mozambique shortlyafter independence, but also aimed at aq uick qualificationo fn ational cadres by these international cooperators.  Dora, Kokos,2 9, 34-35.  Dora,Kokos,3 5. through the city,w hile Frank and his wife explored the streets of Maputoa nd constantlyg ot lost.S ince after independence most street namesh ad been changed, they needed to ask locals for directions, because theircity map proved to be outdated. Indeed, Maputo'sstreets were renamed after prominent figures of socialism such as Karl Marx,Vladimir Lenin, or Mao TseTung.Such personalities should have sounded familiar to Frank and Rita. In practice, however,they needed aw hile to getu sed to the Mozambican pronunciation of Friedrich Engels as "FedericoE nschles," until they understood which path to follow.⁹² Overall it seems that formerG DR cooperators' expectations weree xceeded duringt heir first weeks in Mozambique, because all East German narrators describe the beauty of nature and friendliness of people at length. An impressive example is delivered by Hans,aGDR advisor who worked at the teacher training institute in Maputoduringthe 1980s. Hans devotes agenerous amount of text to his non-work activities in Mozambique and personal highlights likeseeing aturtle, adolphin, or ashark for the first time in his life (interestingly enough, Hans was responsible for the training of Mozambican biologyteachers,amongst other duties).⁹³ His first encounter with the Indian Ocean in particular "seemed like paradise" to him and his wife.⁹⁴

Solidarity as Motive in International Cooperation in Education
Solidarity was the official motive for cooperation in education between the GDR and the PRMinthe 1970sand 1980s.⁹⁵ But how did this somewhat overused term manifest in the practice of everydaycooperation?Inthe memory books we found ar ather highs pirit of solidarity in travelers from both sides. But it seems that East Germansi nterpreted their stayi nM ozambique in connection to tasks like an "internationalist duty"⁹⁶ or spreadingM arxist ideals, while Mozambicans re- Dora, Kokos,2 6-27.  Hans Bruchsteiner, "VomLernen und Lehren -als Berater in der mosambikanischen Volksbildung," in Wir haben Spurenh interlassen! Die DDR in Mosambik:E rlebnisse, Erfahrungen und Erkenntnissea us dreiJ ahrzehnten,e d. Matthias Voß( Münster: Lit,2 005), 444-448.  Bruchsteiner, "VomL ernen," 445.  Alexandra Piepiorka, "Exploring 'Socialist Solidarity' in Higher Education: East German Advisors in Post-Independence Mozambique (1975 -1992)," in Education and Development in Colonial andPostcolonial Africa:Policies, Paradigms,andEntanglements, 1980s-1980s,ed ferred to goals like building the nation state when explicating their educational missions in the GDR.B esides the slight differencei nt he long-term goal formulation,i ts eems that solidarity in practical terms was understood as loyalty and friendship. This maybeexemplified by the narrative of East German journalist Peter Spaček,⁹⁷ who accompanied aF RELIMOc ommander on arallyt oavillagei nC entral Mozambique shortlya fter independence. Although the villagers never experiencedc ontact to FRELIMOm embers before, Peter recalls that thousands had gathered to hear the announcements. The journalist intended to observet he meetingf rom the background, but the FRELIMOc ommander asked him to come on stagea nd included the foreigner into his speech: 'This comrade fought for us,' he said. Some of the listeners laughed. Awhite person?T he audienceb usted out laughing as he grabbed and raised my pen. 'And this is his weapon.' But then he raised aK alashnikov and pointedt owards an earby tree. 'With this weapon Ican shoot as far as there.But with this one,' now again pointingatthe pen, 'this comrade can reach out to the world.'⁹⁸ In his further speech, the FRELIMOc ommander established ac onnection between the author'sp en and the solidarity serviceso fs ocialist countries to Mozambique, stressingthe education of Mozambicans in the GDR,amongst others.
Over time, this heroic notion of solidarity,which was connected with the liberation struggle and also with the general reputation of the GDR,diminished in Mozambique. This, in part,h appened due to rather bureaucratic shortcomings duringt he actual post-independence collaboration between the twoc ountries. This mayb ed emonstrated using the example of the East German cooperator Udo, who was delegated to the statistical office of Mozambique in 1979,where he helped organizingc ountrywide censuses and supported his counterparts and trainees in statistical planning and evaluation. His supervisor did express his satisfaction with Udo'sw ork on several occasions and wished to prolong the cooperator'sc ontract. Nevertheless,i ts eems that GDR authorities weren ot  Peter Spaček was the first East German pressc orrespondent,who visited the FRELIMOd uring the struggle for Mozambican independence. Alreadyi n1 970h ea ccompanied FRELIMOtroops into "the bush" and interviewed Samora Machel as well as other high-ranking FRELI-MO-members. He published ap ositive report on his voyage to the FRELIMO-run "liberated areas" of Northern Mozambique in the international press and made FRELIMO'ss truggle known to awider public; Peter Spaček, Warich wirklich in Moçambique? AlsDDR-Korrespondent auf vier Kontinenten (Berlin: Edition Weisse Seiten, 2005), 100 -103.For medial representation of Mozambique and FRELIMOi nt he GDR see also Bodie in this volume.  Spaček,Wari ch wirklich,[123][124] willing to let Udo go for anyl onger than af ew months.⁹⁹ Due to his onlys hortterm contracts, Udo used to travel back and forth between the GDR and Mozambique for five years, very much to the dismay of his Mozambican supervisor Rodrigues. After writing several requests for prolonging Udo'sc ontract,R odrigues eventuallyr eceivedan egative or onlyp artlya pproving responsef rom GDR authorities. Instead of Udo another East Germanc ooperator wasc hosen to take over the job -ap erson who, in Rodrigues' view,d id not possess the necessary skills to support the bureau'swork duringthe next census. Resignedly, he turned to Udo: "Alas!N oo ne makes life as hard for us as the countries we are friends with!"¹⁰⁰ Andfurther he complained: "From other countries […]people come voluntarily, with goodwill and readyt oh elp us. With youw ed oh aveafriendship agreement, but every time therei sahuge struggle to receive the requesteds upport."¹⁰¹ Such dialogues between the protagonistUdo and his Mozambican counterparts point towards at rust-based communication style between the colleagues. At the samet ime, the practical limits of state-organized socialist solidarity are addressed quite franklyh ere.

Learning to Understand Each Other
Interculturalo rl ocal learning can be traced back by small episodes told in the memory books of East German cooperantes (cooperators) in Mozambique. One such episodeisrecalled by Rainer,ahistory and arts teacher who worked as advisor in the department for teachert raining for the Mozambican Ministry of Educationbetween 1981 and1986.Onone occasion, Rainer is invited by aMozambican colleaguet om eet some local artists and to visit the Núcleo de Arte, Mozambique'sf irst art association. Among other works they discuss ap ainting showing a curandeira (healer), atraditional medicine woman performing ahealing ritual. While examining the painting,R ainer wonders whyt he persons lying at the feet of the curandeira openedt heirm ouths. The artistM ankeu explains that "their illness had made them sad. Sadness seals the mouth. The open mouth therefore symbolizes thats adness has escaped."¹⁰² Deeplyi mpressed by the African artwork, Rainer concludes in his book that this artistw as like an embodiment of the Mozambican people. But interculturall earning also occurred in the context of work -sometimes even in ac lassroom setting.D uring ap ractical lesson, one of Rainer'sp upils, a future instructor of Marxism-Leninism namedS enhor V. ,c overed the October Revolution in Russia.A pparently, the term Bolsheviks was not familiar to all of his audience,s ou pon requestS enhor V. explained: "Youk now,h ere in the South [of Mozambique] we have the Rongatribe. ManyRongaare workers, peasants, or soldiers. Likewise, backt hen in Russia there was at ribe called Bolsheviks; manyo ft hem were also workers, peasants, soldiers."¹⁰³ We strongly assume that the East Germani nstructors of Marxism-Leninism must have disagreed with this interpretation. Despite the misinterpretation of the historical role of the Bolsheviks in Russia, the topic was not discussed further in Rainer's recollection. Nevertheless,i ts eems surprising thatS enhor V. relied on the tribe as afigurative example to illustrate the role of the BolsheviksinRussia, because the example contradicted FRELIMO'sdiscourse against tribalism in Mozambican society to alarge extent.Apparently, while FRELIMO'spolitics aimedatovercoming tribal bondso nt he national level, in as mall teacher training institute in Nampula the tribe served as useful referencetointerpret the role of Marxist-Leninist partiesi nr evolutionary processes, by simply picturing them as leading tribes with manyworkers, peasants, and soldiers.Thisrather creative interpretation of "at ribe called Bolsheviks" by af uture Mozambican instructor of Marxism-Leninism mayserveasagood example of the ideological entanglements between Africa and the East,a si ts hows how local actors reclaimed the historiography of socialism by adapting it to local meanings.

Learning to Deal with Contradictionsa nd Disappointmentsi n StateS ocialism
Mozambicans who livedi nt he GDR oftene xpress mixed feelingsw hen they reflect on East German state socialism in theirnarratives. Apparently, the self-representation of the country did not resonatewith everydaylife as experienced by foreigners. All Mozambican narrators did experience xenophobia or racism at some point,although the GDR government claimed that the East Germansociety was guided by anti-racist ideals. Thus, racism rarelyoccurred in the workplace of the Mozambican migrants, but racist assaultso ften occurred in spheres where state control tended to be absent,n amelyi nb ars or discotheques.¹⁰⁴ In order  Grajek,Berichte,8 0.  See Machava,this volume. not to hurt the comfort of the GDR population and its leadership, the Mozambican teacher Gabriel learned to control what should and should not be said. In other words, he learned to control and managehis silence. He further mentioned that in the beginning his motivation for maintaining silence was not to hurt his East German hosts. But with time he learned that "the thingsthat werenot being said, turned out to be the most important ones, in away."¹⁰⁵ Regarding the issue of freedom of expression in East German state socialism, Gabriel recollects that after aw hile he understood the informal rules of political communication: "There weret hingst hat youw ould sayi naprivates etting.There youc ould express your opinion,d iscuss with people and express criticism. And then, there wereo fficial settings, wherey ou would sayt he thingsw hich weree xpected to be said."¹⁰⁶ In this example, Mozambican narrators clearly work out the contradiction between the democratic self-representationofthe GDR and the rather undemocratic practice of silencing political debates among citizens -or in this case foreigners. At the same time, Gabriel'sm emory demonstrates how foreigners adopted certain culturalp racticest hat werec ommon among GDR citizens.
East German observers also take up the topic of contradictions with state socialism when narrating about their experience in Mozambique. On the one hand, they recall situations in which they disagreed with the behavior of fellow GDR cooperators in Mozambique, and on the other hand, they observecontradictions in Mozambican state socialism as another noteworthyphenomenon. This maybe illustrated by the autobiographyofUdo, who wascontracted by the Mozambican government to work on the population census and to qualifyMozambican statisticians. He and his intern from Eduardo Mondlane University werea nalyzing statistical data on Mozambique'si ndustry sector from the years 1979 and 1980. AG ermanc ooperator called Micha shared the office with them, but did not show very much passion for this work. In Udo'sr ecollections Micha affirmed that his contract was onlyvalid for two years and thathewould not stayinMozambique for as ingle dayl onger,astance that differed greatlyf rom the official motive of internationalist solidarity as propagated in the GDR.A part from that, this colleagueusedtospeak German with Udo on all occasions,although it was obvious that none of their Mozambican colleagues would understand anyG erman. As Udo recalled, this behaviorw as at least impolite if not highlyoffensive to their Mozambican colleagues, and Micha'sattitude embarrassed him. Udore- Gudat and Ilal, "Erfahrungen," 218.  Gudat and Ilal, "Erfahrungen," 219. counts that manyother cooperators from the GDR behavedlikewiseand thatthe Mozambican partners repeatedlyc omplained about such behavior. ¹⁰⁷ On the other hand, GDR citizensweresometimes overwhelmed by the challenges that awaited them at their workplace. The East German educational advisor Rainer,for instance, was delegated to contribute to the history curriculum for the teacher training institutes in the country.The "expert group" in charge of curriculum planning consisted of international educators, amongst others from Brazil and Portugal,¹⁰⁸ which led Rainer to speculate about their unwillingness to collaborate with him. Although "good sounding terms like 'socialist Mozambique', 'scientificity',a nd 'historical materialism'" wered ropped by his international colleagues during team meetings,R ainer'sv ersion of socialist awareness was rather ignored in the curriculum planning process itself ¹⁰⁹: "Youk now,Mr.
Grajek, we are all from different countries -we all have very different perceptions of the term awareness."¹¹⁰ Facing such statements Rainer had to leave the final decision to their Mozambican supervisor,who-in this case-chose to opt in favoro fR ainer'sc oncept of "socialist awareness."¹¹¹ What astonished East Germana uthors was the contrast between the official appraisal of the Soviet Union as the mother state of socialism, and as eemingly minor popularity of Soviet cooperators among the Mozambican population. The East German statistician Udo remembers that during avisit to af ishermen'svillageatthe NiassaLake local women wereuncertain if he would like to join them for lunch. Puzzled about their uncertainty,Udo asks for the reason of the women'sconcern and gets an upfront answer: afew weeks before his visit some "soviéticos" (Soviets) passed by the place to evaluatei favillagec ooperative could be foundedthere. The Soviet visitors chose to bring cans of tinnedf ood instead of enjoying local food and did not cook together with the villagers. The latter concluded from this behaviort hat the soviéticos might have feared for their health, because they even brought waterw ith them.Udo retrospectively regards such behavior as highlyc ounterproductive to socialist goals like solidarity and friendship: "Youc annot convince people with propaganda and beautiful  Heiland, Unter Moçambicanern,7 4.  It was not unusual that international cooperators fromW estern countries and the Eastern bloc had to work together within the Mozambican education system. As acommon languagefacilitated communication with Portuguese and Brazilian citizens,t he Mozambican government frequentlyemployed educational experts fromboth countries.See Piepiorka, "Exploring Socialist Solidarity," 290,2 97.  Grajek, Berichte,7 0.  Ibid.  Grajek, Berichte,7 1. speeches alone. How do they want to agitatef or friendship, when they isolate themselvesl ike that?I t ' samystery to me."¹¹² In addition to criticallyo bserving the behavior of Soviet cooperators,M ozambicans frequentlym entioned national problems whent alking to their East German colleagues and friends. Independence has raised great hopes among the Mozambican population and socialism was officiallyp raised as the sure road to national development.B ut with the growingeconomic crisis and an ongoing civil war during the 1980s as evere lack of goods and servicesb ecame manifest.Inspite of this dramatic setting,East German cooperators occasionally observed arather elitist or even selfishbehavior on part of some FRELIMO party cadres,which did not correspond to the official agenda of socialism for the ordinary people. One of such unpleasant memories is mentioned by young journalist Peter Spaček, who recounts am eetingw ith an oldF RELIMOf riend "from the bush" (meaning the armed struggle).¹¹³ Meanwhile his friend turned governor in the provincecapital of Tete invited Spaček for an opulent dinner. To Spaček's astonishment the new governor had taken over the formerPortuguese governor's estate, includingthe butler.But what reallycaught the journalist'sattention were the delicious prawns on his old friend'sd ining table. Such fancy foods werea lmost unavailable on the coast itself, but the dinner took place 400 kilometers inland and the governor apparentlydid not mind flying them in. He even boasted of the "solidarity" between governors that allowed him to organize such extravagances.¹¹⁴ Downhearted Spaček came to the conclusion thati tw as not worth appealing to his old friend'ss ocialist ideals from the guerilla times: "As the idea failed in our own homes in Europe, whys hould it work exactlyh ere, in faraway Africa?"¹¹⁵ When it came to consumer goods, some East German cooperators alsoo bserved ac omparable decline in socialist ideals in the ranks of theiro wn higher-ranking SED cadres.F or instance, the biochemistry lecturer Holger, who worked at Eduardo Mondlane University,recalls an opulent reception in Maputo organized for ahigh-ranking SED delegation duringtheir visit to the fifth FRELI-MO Congress in 1989.What caught his attention at this reception werethe boring speeches as well as the Western drinks, namelyb ottles of Evian water and the  Heiland, Unter Moçambicanern,2 77.  Spaček has visited FRELIMO-controlled areas during the independence struggle and gott o know manyFRELIMO-leaders, whoatthat time wereguerilla fighters and livedinrather spartan conditions.Thus,the post-independence luxurious lifestyle of former comrades "fromthe bush" mayh aves trongly contrasted with his earlier experiencew ith FRELIMO-officials.  Spaček, Wari ch wirklich,153.  Ibid. soft drink Fanta on the tables.L ater he learned from ac olleaguet hat these and manyo ther Western products had been flown in especiallyf or this government delegation and that the official airline of the GDR, Interflug,was responsible for the transport.¹¹⁶ Although such memory details mays eem insignificant,t hey show very well the awareness of privilegei nb oth socialist societies, because the privileged accesst os carceo re xceptional goods was oftent ied to higher ranks in the state apparatus. Thus, while Mozambican governors and East German governmentr epresentativesm ay have enjoyed fancy drinks and prawns every now and then, the ordinary people (includingt he authorso ft he memory sources) wererather used to queuing for basicgoods like meat or even water¹¹⁷ in times of shortage.
Such contradictions within state-socialist societies mayb es ummed up in a political joke told by Mozambicans to their East Germancolleagueduringanannual works outing.The joke reads as follows: twoMozambicans want to eat fish. In the whole city they cannot geta ny,s ot hey decide to go fishing at the river. After aw hile they catch af air-sized fish and geto ut ap an to fry it. "Id on't have oil," says one of them. "Well, me neither," comments the other, "so, let's fry it without oil! But Id on'th avea ny matches." The first is disappointed: "Ia lso don'th avea ny.M an, let'sj ust throw the fish backi nto the water." In this moment the fish turn up his head and shouts: "VivaaFRELIMO!"-Long live FRELIMO.¹¹⁸ In the 1980s, disillusionment about the ongoingeconomic crisis and the connected lack of consumer goods became widespread even among party cadres,w ho indeed found themselvesi narelatively privileged situation within the distributions ystem of the FRELIMO-led state.A mong the less privileged parts of the Mozambican population the "popularjokes in Maputobecame increasinglyb itter about the deteriorating situation."¹¹⁹ Although the joke blatantlymade fun of the government'sfailure to provide the Mozambican population with basic supplies, all those present join in a hearty laugh.¹²⁰ The fact that this political joke was told in front of the East German colleaguepoints to arelationship of trust,because the state censorship did not joke with unpleasant anecdotists -neither in the GDR nor in Mozambique.¹²¹ At the same time, it is remarkable that all the protagonists on sitei mmediately understood the joke and the underlying humor,which pointst oacommon understandingo ft he poor condition in party-led economies.J okes with as imilar undertone werea lsop opular in the GDR and other Eastern bloc countries.¹²² Such anecdotes served as an outlet for annoyed or disappointed citizens in socialist societies around the globe who werepromised prosperous socialist development but who at the same time regularlyexperienced ashortageofbasic consumer goods. The circumstance that ordinary people-living in nominally people-led economies-suffered from the lack of basic supplies likem atches or oil found expression in ap articular genre of humor,t he "communist joke".¹²³ These jokes illustrate ac ommon horizon of dealing with scarcity in socialist societies and the experience of addressingi ti ronicallyo rs ubversively.

ConcludingR emarks
After recapitulating selected aspects of East Germana nd Mozambican memory literature, we wonder whether it is reasonable to speak about at ransnational memory space between these two formerlysocialist populations. Although memories on overall socialist realities seem to coincide in Mozambican and East German narrations about "the other",t he personal realities of the narrators and their memoriesv ary considerably.G enerally speaking,E ast Germanr ealities seem somewhat privileged as compared to the Mozambican storytelling.T his mayresult from the positions narrators occupied in the overall system of educational exchangeb etween the GDR and the PRM. Most East German narrators came to Mozambique as educators or advisors. Onlyo ne East German narrator  Fort he surveillanceo fp olitical jokes within the GDR see Bodo Müller, Lachen gegend ie Ohnmacht: DDR-Witze im Visier der Stasi (Berlin: Ch. Links,2016). Fort he contexto fM ozambique see RichardD .L ewis, Humor Across Frontiers, Or,R ound the Worldi n8 0J okes (Warnford: Transcreen Publishing, 2005), 100.  Fori nstance, in the GDR,t he lack of certain goods manifested itself in the form of long queues that formed in front of shops that weres aid to have the desiredg oods. Nevertheless, the supplyo fg oods often did not meet the needs of East German consumers or rano ut before everyone in the queue was served. Ajokedealingwith the routine of rumors about queuingfor consumer goods reads as follows:One housewife says to another: "Ihear there'll be snow tomorrow!",towhich the other one replies: "Well, I'mnot queuingfor that";see BenLewis, Hammer And Tickle: AH istoryo fC ommunism Told Through Communist Jokes (London: Phoenix, 2009), 132.  See Lewis,Hammer And Tickle,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] came to Maputof or study purposes, namelyt ol earn the Portuguesel anguage. On the other hand, most Mozambican narrators came to the GDR as prospective studentso rt rainees. This implies thatt he divergent positions of the East Germans and Mozambicans in theird estination countries mayh aver esulted in very different memories, and ar ather divided memory space.
At the same time, it seems that regardlessoftheirposition within the system, all narrators picture themselvesa sl earnersi navery broad sense. Both Mozambican and East German authors tell stories about encounters with new habits, new rules, new socialist realities abroad. And manyp assages are devoted to the intercultural understanding of one another,r esulting in new socialist entanglements.F urthermore, socialist ideals seem to be valued in bothM ozambican and East Germanm emoryt exts.Acommon tone is also palpable in passages that criticize the negative aspects of state socialism in the respectively other country.I ns um, an ostalgic but ambivalent consensus on the socialist project in both countries seems to manifest in the writtent estimonies of its former protagonists. In that sense, we found an otion of "sharedness" in post-socialist memoriesthat originatedinvery different geographical and temporalspaces,expressed through temporary moorings. As ar esult, we see ad elightful mosaic of Euro-African storytelling on educational exchangeunder socialist conditions,assembled by "Mozambican-Ossis"¹²⁴ (Mozambican "Easterners")a  Grajek, Berichte,2 68. Dependingo nt he context, "Ossi" mayb eacolloquial or pejorative term for ap erson originatingf romE astern Germany( or the former GDR).
 We want to send ac ordial obrigado and Danke to Anne Dietrich and Marcia C. Schenck, whoa ccompanied us in our journey through post-socialist memory landscapes with incredible patiencea nd invaluable advice in the process of writing.