Madgermanes

Madgermanes are Mozambican workers who were sent to East Germany in the 1970s to labor for their socialist sister country. After the Berlin Wall fell, they lost their residency status and are still waiting for most of their wages to be paid. Birgit Weyhe's book depicts their search for belonging and a place to call home, caught between two cultures and two states that no longer exist. It is a great document and a monument to the injustice that befell them.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 01 October 2021
Publisher: V & Q Books

Madgermanes are the term used today to refer to Mozambican workers who were once contracted out to East Germany. In the late 1970s, approximately 20,000 of these workers were dispatched from the People's Republic of Mozambique to the GDR to labor for their socialist sister country. However, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, almost all of them lost their residency status. Decades later, they are still waiting for the majority of their wages to be paid.

Birgit Weyhe's book delves into the search for belonging and a sense of home for these individuals, who find themselves caught between two cultures and two states that no longer exist. Through extensive interviews, Weyhe creates three fictitious narrators and weaves their stories into a visual language that skillfully blends African and European narrative traditions. By engaging in an artistic dialogue between European and African cultures, Weyhe captures emotions and situations and translates them into overwhelming images.

This book holds significant importance as a testament to the injustice experienced by contract workers like myself and others in East Germany. It serves as a powerful document that sheds light on the experiences of these individuals and their struggle for recognition and compensation.

Emiliano Chaimite, a fellow contract worker, praises this book as a great document and a monument to the injustices we faced. He believes that it is essential for people to understand the history and consequences of such contracts and to work towards ensuring that such practices are never repeated.

Weight: 728g
Dimension: 222 x 368 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783863913069