13 Between State Mission and Everyday Life: Private Photographs of East Germans in Mozambique in the 1980s

Abstract

As the Second World War came to an end, African colonies underwent tremendous political, social, and economic changes. The colonial powers Great Britain and France saw their economic base severely weakened after the Second World War, as newly founded liberation movements in those colonies began to revolt against their colonial rulers. As a result, most of the formerly colonized African countries achieved independence during the 1960s. Each state, however, faced similar problems in its attempt to overcome colonial legacies and to implement well-suited political systems. While few African countries consciously chose a capitalist path, many African governments at least theoretically pursued one form or another of socialism—derived from the assumption that capitalism was an extension of colonialism and imperialism.1 Socialism, therefore, was seen as a way to achieve liberation and future development. Beginning with the armed struggle in 1964, it took the liberation movement Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO) until 1975 to achieve political independence in Mozambique. While British and French colonies followed a classic “neocolonial solution,” Portugal remained uncompromising and refused to surrender its colonies.2 Following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in April 1974, and the uprising in the other Portuguese colonies Angola and Guinea-Bissau, the colonial power was now unwilling and felt increasingly unable to retain its grip on power; ultimately, this condition, paired with FRELIMO’s struggle for independence, resulted in the sovereignty of Mozambique on June 25, 1975. Though Portugal’s presence in Mozambique was limited to the coastlines and specific trade routes in the hinterland for many centuries, the colonized had suffered greatly under the Portuguese, including from the exploitation of its people and resources to other foreign interests; forced labor and slavery, underdevelopment in the agricultural and economic sectors, illiteracy, malnutri-