- 3 years ago
They take to the streets with German flags, drums, and whistles: In Mozambique’s capital city of Maputo, the “Madgermanes” are demanding justice.
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00:00 This is an unusual protest.
00:11 Every weekend at 11, protesters in the southern African nation of Mozambique take to the streets
00:16 to demand justice from Germany.
00:18 The so-called "Majormanes" toiled as contract workers in former East Germany, but they never
00:23 received their full wages.
00:26 We're still waiting for an answer.
00:28 Where's our money?
00:29 Where's our money?
00:30 Where is our money?
00:31 The
00:43 big demonstration is about to start, as it does every Wednesday.
00:55 Everyone knows each other here in the Jardim dos Majormanes, the German Garden.
00:59 In the middle of Mozambique's capital, Maputo, snack bars, drink shops, nail salons, and
01:05 small businesses line the edges.
01:08 But above all, this is a meeting place for those who spent time in Germany, or more precisely,
01:14 in former East Germany.
01:16 This period left its mark on them, and to this day they keep its memory alive and speak
01:21 German among themselves, so as to not forget.
01:31 Zulio Faisal Laca is a Majormane, a German as they're called here.
01:37 The Majormane community has been united for more than 30 years, demonstrating for their
01:41 rights since the early 1990s.
01:44 This did not go down well with the state, especially in the beginning.
01:48 There was at least one fatality among the demonstrators, shot by the police.
01:53 Today a stone commemorates him.
01:57 One of us died here.
02:00 Zulio has been with the protesters from the beginning.
02:03 The time in Germany shaped his life.
02:05 He went to the GDR in 1980, when he was just 19.
02:09 My family was not pleased because I was too young.
02:14 The times were so hard, I just wanted to get out of Mozambique.
02:18 There was no life here, just chaos.
02:23 It was a difficult time for Mozambique, having just won its independence from Portugal in
02:27 1975.
02:28 A bloody civil war broke out shortly after.
02:33 Anti-communist rebels faced off against the socialist government, led by Samora Moisés
02:37 Michel.
02:38 Michel and East German leader Erich Honecker came to a cooperative agreement in 1979, which
02:44 resettled thousands of Mozambicans to the GDR, where laborers were urgently needed.
02:50 There they lived in tower blocks and outlying districts, with little contact to the German
02:54 population.
02:56 But they received training and work, sometimes in industry, often simply in the slaughterhouse.
03:02 The problem was that a large part of their wages were withheld.
03:06 They were told officially that they would receive the remainder when they returned to
03:09 their homeland.
03:10 But in fact, the money went toward servicing Mozambique's debt to the GDR.
03:15 The contract workers knew nothing of this and never received their money.
03:19 Around 17,000 people are still waiting for their wages.
03:32 We want the world to see us.
03:33 And we want the world to see that we have never received their full pay for the work
03:37 we did in East Germany.
03:42 We were exploited like modern day slaves.
03:49 This is why in Maputo, every Wednesday at 11, they take to the streets, winding through
03:53 the city center.
03:55 The police stay back, even blocking a few streets to prevent accidents.
04:00 Relations between the Majormanes and the police were not always so good.
04:04 They demonstrate and dance, demanding justice.
04:29 The Ministry of Labor on the corner of Karl Marx Avenue marks the end of the demonstration.
04:35 The protesters' demands to finally be paid for their work are addressed to Germany, but
04:38 equally to the Mozambican government, which is not exactly popular with most Majormanes.
04:45 The protesters ask rhetorically, "Who has destroyed our society and our families?"
04:56 The answer comes immediately, "The FRELIMO."
04:59 The governing party has been in power without interruption since independence.
05:03 The Majormanes feel they have been cheated and exploited, yet they have not been especially
05:07 well-liked since their return.
05:10 They are seen by many as being relatively affluent, and as having lived comfortably
05:14 abroad during the Civil War.
05:16 Still the regular demonstrations have ensured that they are not forgotten.
05:25 I only know that they worked abroad, and when they came back, they weren't paid.
05:32 They've been demonstrating for their rights ever since.
05:41 Do you know which country this is about?
05:45 Not exactly.
05:46 I think Germany.
05:51 They call themselves Majormanes, and they're always in the garden over there.
05:57 Yes, those are the Majormanes.
06:01 They're always here on Wednesdays.
06:07 It's quite sad.
06:09 They have to solve this problem.
06:13 Especially since considerable amounts of money are involved.
06:16 Each person is likely owed the equivalent of several thousand euros.
06:20 That is a lot of money, even though the country has a strongly growing economy and enormous
06:24 other potential.
06:25 Tourism, for example.
06:29 On the other hand, Mozambique is a very fragile state, one of the poorest countries in the
06:34 world today.
06:39 Seoul is a town of 36,000 in East German Thuringia, nearly 9,000 kilometers to the north.
06:46 In the GDR era, Simson motorcycles were produced here.
06:50 They had a reputation for being especially strong, durable, and reliable.
06:56 In fact, although the former state combine has been closed since the fall of communism,
07:00 young people still race here on Simson bikes.
07:15 Adelino Masovira-Joao worked here for many years.
07:19 He is one of some 2,000 contract workers who remained in Germany rather than returning
07:23 home.
07:24 He now works for the Protestant church in Seoul.
07:27 Adelino supervised a group of 240 Mozambican contract workers employed here in motorcycle
07:33 production.
07:34 200 men, 40 women.
07:43 This building here was the personnel department, where the workers' wages and deductions were
07:49 calculated.
07:50 The canteen was over there.
08:04 Everyone sat and ate together there, without any problems.
08:13 As group leader, Joao's job was mainly to translate, ensure discipline, and make sure
08:18 that the production schedule was met.
08:21 But the deductions from their wages were also a recurring issue.
08:24 At first 25, and later as much as 60 percent was withheld and supposedly transferred to
08:29 an account in Mozambique.
08:35 There were often problems with the wages, apart from the 60 percent deduction.
08:41 You calculated how much you worked and how much was deducted from Mozambique, but you
08:46 were still five marks short.
08:48 Then I went to the office with the pay slip, and sometimes with the employee concerned.
08:54 That was part of my job, too.
09:01 Joao was unaware that the withheld wages were secretly being used to service Mozambique's
09:05 debts to the GDR, rather than being transferred to the workers.
09:09 Despite the promises that the contract workers were getting rich, they could see that there
09:13 was nothing in their accounts, nor have their pension contributions ever been recognized.
09:28 I was deceived, and I was disappointed.
09:33 In some ways I was exploited.
09:35 I didn't become wealthy.
09:39 The only thing I gained there was experience.
09:43 Adelino Joao is calling on the German government to cooperate with Mozambique to find a solution
09:49 and compensate the Magyar Manas.
09:51 It is a matter of historical responsibility.
09:56 In the German parliament in Berlin, opinions differ as to whether Germany is really duty-bound
10:01 on this issue.
10:04 SED Victims Commissioner Evelin Zupke works for parliament to look after the interests
10:09 of those wronged in the GDR.
10:11 That includes the Magyar Manas.
10:13 Zupke says, yes, Germany should pay.
10:22 Germany has a historical responsibility to the former Mozambican contract workers, because
10:27 the injustice took place on German soil.
10:31 The gestures which have so far been made are not enough.
10:35 In the early 1990s, Germany paid around 75 million euros for the Magyar Manas, but the
10:40 money apparently found its way into the pockets of corrupt politicians in Mozambique.
10:45 No one knows its fate for sure.
10:51 In my opinion, we have to determine what kind of one-time payment we can make to the former
10:57 contract workers to express our gratitude to them.
11:04 Many of them have already died or are living in difficult circumstances.
11:13 Evelin Zupke is confident that a solution to the Magyar Manas issue will be found by
11:17 the end of the current legislative term.
11:20 But policy cannot answer all the questions.
11:29 Benny Fiedler is a musician.
11:31 He plays in a band and sometimes on the street, like here in the northern German town of Hildesheim.
11:46 Music is my life.
11:47 I got that tattooed on my arm here.
11:49 "Fidebana est" - life is good.
11:52 I've been singing as far back as I can remember.
11:54 It keeps me in touch with my roots.
11:58 One thing has been bothering Benny for the last year.
12:01 He hardly knows anything about his father, only that he came from Mozambique and was
12:06 a contract worker in the GDR, a Magyar Man.
12:09 His mother is German, though such relationships were strictly forbidden.
12:14 Now in his early 30s, Benny grew up with his mother in Rathenau, East Germany.
12:20 Then when he was four, a West German family adopted him and he moved to Hildesheim.
12:25 He says he had a happy childhood and for a long time didn't ask about his biological
12:29 father.
12:30 I repressed it.
12:31 When you already look different and you find a way to belong, you repress the things that
12:37 can take that away from you.
12:40 I never really felt the need to search for my roots, but that's totally changing now.
12:44 There's an emptiness inside me that I have to fill.
12:50 I need to know who I am.
12:53 Benny Fiedler is now searching intently for his father with help from an aid organization.
12:58 It is not an easy task, because all he has is a photo.
13:02 In the picture he's standing by a white pickup outside the travel agency where he
13:11 worked in Maputo.
13:12 I know his name, but it doesn't seem complete.
13:16 Louis Schelena.
13:19 My birth mother gave me the picture.
13:20 I'm not sure where she got it.
13:22 This is the only picture I have of him.
13:24 There's nothing else.
13:27 Benny Fiedler is not an isolated case.
13:30 Majormanas fathered an estimated 2,000 children in Germany.
13:34 Only rarely is there any contact, for various reasons.
13:38 In the evening, Benny performs at the opening of a bar.
13:41 He often thinks about his father and wonders where he is.
13:53 Some Majormanas living in Mozambique today would also like to have contact with their
13:57 children in Germany.
14:05 Back in Mozambique, an hour's drive from Maputo, Zulio Fezal-Laca, who demonstrates
14:10 every week, lives here with his wife and son.
14:13 He has kept all the day-to-day items that remind him of his time in Germany, GDR chairs
14:18 and beer glasses included, in an album with photos from back then.
14:34 That's me with my son.
14:43 That's my friend's child.
14:48 That's my ID card.
14:54 Zulio fathered three children in Germany, but he is no longer in contact with them,
14:59 nor with his German girlfriend from those days.
15:02 I miss my kids a lot, especially on their birthdays and when I look at the pictures.
15:12 I hope I can see them again someday.
15:18 One thing is especially important to Zulio.
15:21 Mozambique and Germany share a chapter in history, one that has left its mark.
15:27 All the more disappointing, they say here, that even 30 years later, the Majormanas of
15:32 Mozambique are still waiting for their wages.
15:34 [Music]
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