The German Democratic Republic was a communist state in the Eastern part of the German territories.
This year I stumbled across an unexpected topic in (East) German history: The German Democratic Republic (GDR) sent its own citizens to Libya via the inner-German border in the 1980s! Similar to Cuba sending medical brigades to trouble spots today, the GDR also sent medical professionals to the fourth largest African country in the 1980s! This is an interesting discovery, because all too often people overlook the fact that the GDR was also a global player. Indeed, it is often only associated with German and European involvement, so that no one really learns about this extraordinary foreign policy.
In the course of the term paper, I interviewed Edith, a midwife who was deployed in Libya. I focused on the aspect of freedom of movement and how this freedom was expressed. To what extent would the word “freedom” be appropriate here? In order to be able to answer these questions, important events from Edith’s life and the time she spent in Libya are described here.
The consisting term of knowledge
As I already teased in the previous paragraph the engagement of the GDR is often overlooked. The reasons for this will be explained further on in the text. What can be said is the following:
Outer politics and commitments from the government in East-Berlin above the curtain wall which divided Europe from 1961-1989 in two is rarely an awareness in the general German memory. In recent years, historical scholarship has focused more on the topic of the GDR’s foreign policy and its involvement in the Third World. One thing in particular makes the increased discussion of the GDR’s involvement in African and Asian countries worthwhile: many of the files stored in the Federal Archives are subject to a protection period. Likely, this is intended to protect those who were active at the time and to ensure that contemporary witnesses are deceased when the files are released. That is why there is no other way than to resort to oral history to get information on the subject.
In the last couple of years there were some publications about the relationship between the GDR and newly independent African states who were attracted to Socialism like Mozambique or Angola.[1] In particular there are some publications which are focused on the relationship between the GDR and the people’s republic of Mozambique and the binding of these two states in the form of contracts and the sending of professionals. However, it has to be said here that the Federal Republic of Germany liked to try to group these activities together under the term “development aid” [Entwicklungshilfe”].[2]
Background story – The German Democratic Republic
After the second World War and the capitulation of Nazi-Germany, Germany was split into four different military zones from the Allies (France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union). In 1949 on these zones were two German governments proclaimed: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the Western zones and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the Eastern zone. The Soviet Union controlled the Eastern zone. Early on, a rivalry developed out of the two states over the question of the “one real German state”. The GDR was accused of being a Soviet puppet and not being independent. In fact, the German Democratic Republic really had to face a patronization from Moscow and also an economic dismantling from them. A kick-start with a stable economy and full recognition among the German population was not given for the GDR.
The Federal Republic of Germany had from early on a strong “One Germany” policy. Foreign states had only to deal with the government in Bonn, West-Germany. To highlight these ambitions it declared in 1955 the “Hallstein-Doctrine”: Every foreign state, which trades or improve relations with the East-German counterpart will be face an economic and political abandonment.
Struggling with the position of the “one and only German state”, an escape of own citizen to West-Berlin (a Western German enclave in the GDR) and a failed uprising against the government, on 13th August 1961 the GDR ordered the construction of the “Berlin Wall”. An attempt to disrupt the fleeing of its own citizen.
Interfered by the policy of the Federal Republic of Germany the GDR had a long time problem of being recognized by other states. Despite of the communist countries in Eastern Europe, which were also patronized by the Soviet Union, improving relations to other states proved to be difficult. This disruption ended in 1972/73 with the Basic Treaty (“Grundlagenvertrag”) between the two states in which the two German states recognized each other. Nonetheless there were interactions before among the GDR and other states such as the Arab states in the 1950’s even if they were just a few.
Weakened by the economic dismantling and a strong dependence from the Soviet Union the economy did not develop that healthy. The pockets of the GDR were empty. Manufactured products were destined for the Soviet Union for little money. One of the few things the GDR had to offer despite economic products were “human” products: Highly educated scientists and workers trained in the GDR. This was another attempt to get money because the trade with the Soviet Union or other Socialist states was not profitable. Sending “Experts” to other socialist orientated governments on the world was then a possibility. On the legal level, this was made possible by the nationally owned company “intercoop”. “intercoop” was used to send workers abroad and to logistically manage foreign students in the GDR. It was one of foreign trade companies in the GDR, which are been made to cover the resort of “experts” and the training international students.
Libya or the “Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya”
Since 1969 was Libya controlled by Muammar al Qaddafi. The former kingdom, which first saw the light of day as the Libyan nation in 1951, was nationalistically transformed under Qaddafi. In addition to a restructuring of society according to traditional religious laws, socialist elements were also introduced. Qaddafi was supported in his reconstruction projects by the Libyan economy. This consisted largely of the export of oil. In 1970, Libya was the fourth largest exporter of oil on the world market.
Under the leadership of Muammar Al Qaddafi Libya turned to socialist and pan-Arabism, of which the end product was the proclamation of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in 1977. For example, the sale of petroleum in the second half of the 1970s generated 15-20 billion US-dollars per year[3]. Libya can thus also be seen as a post-colonial state that moved between the Cold War front, which resulted from decolonisation, and the post-colonial front, which resulted from decolonisation.
Unfortunately, however, the Libyan colonel not only threw himself into socialist projects, but also financed terrorist organisations. This also drew the attention of the United States, which imposed sanctions against Libya from the spring of 1986.[4]
The term of “Solidarity” and the decline of a “development aid”
Development aid had a different focus in the Federal Republic than in the GDR. While West German development aid was quasi-ideological and supported by broad sections of society, East German development aid was an ideological affair with organisation from above. The GDR also resisted the term “development aid”; instead, the sending of skilled workers and goods was referred to as “solidarity”. In that case I want to interject the following term into the room: “Alternative globalization” based on a book of the socialist World in the World of Globalization and Decolonization.[5]
The GDR’s health engagement in Libya – my current state of knowledge
Edith was recruited at the end of 1985 while working at the hospital in Halberstadt to work as a midwife in a hospital. This was and is in Zawia, which is about 50 km from Tripoli and in the north-west of Libya. In her position as a midwife, she flew to Tripoli in November 1985, where they were picked up in buses by the German hospital team. From there they drove on to Zawia (arabic: الزاوية).[6]
On the grounds of the hospital, they lived in blocks of flats belonging to the hospital. In the blocks of flats they were then accommodated in flats, with Edith sharing her flat with two other colleagues.[7]
In the hospital, the German professionals worked in their own areas. There, in the hospital, they occupied the gynaecology area, the children’s ward and the maternity ward. Together they worked as a closed German team, with individual Libyan professionals present.[8] During operations, for example, a Libyan surgeon was also present, who translated between the doctors and the pregnant Libyan women. In general, the medical professionals from the GDR only worked in Zawia, as Edith also told me.[4] There they made up more than 100 members of the hospital staff. [9]
Edith worked as a midwife in the hospital in Zawia from 1985 to 1988. There she always worked in a twelve-hour mode: one day from 7 am to 7 pm, the next day from 7 pm to 7 am. Then they had a day off and after that the rhythm repeated itself. They worked two shifts, also assisted by a Libyan midwife.[10]
One aspect Edith spoke about in great detail and with pleasure was travel: During the time in Zawia, trips were offered at irregular intervals. Together in a tour group, they travelled around Libya. They visited the oasis town of Ghadames in the south of the country or the Mediterranean Sea. Occasionally they also went to Tripoli. Throughout this story, Edith made a very happy impression on me. She kept coming back to what she had experienced and talked about it in great detail. As a midwife who lived in the German Democratic Republic and could only travel in the socialist countryside, this was a kind of individual freedom. She could experience what no one else was deprived of. In her work as a midwife, which was limited and one could only be selected, she experienced extraordinary things. Things that she could not experience as a normal individual during the time of the GDR. It was not possible to travel outside of the socialist countries. Travel to the Soviet Union, for example, was also very strictly regulated: This was regulated by the “Reisebüro der DDR”[11], a company of the supervising state security. So Edith could visit places as an individual in her position as a skilled worker. Legitimised as socialist workers, they also travelled to Libya as private individuals.
She also came into contact with other people during her working hours: Besides the German professionals, Polish and Filipino workers also worked at the hospital. And of course Libyan workers. In one situation, Edith also spoke of a Palestinian doctor who worked there. But the Polish and Filipino workers were different from the German professionals: they all had individual contracts. Edith told me vividly that they often partied together with the Filipinos during their work in Zawia. So you could escape from the work and the activity by spending time together with your colleagues in the evenings. She also came into contact with other people during her working hours: In addition to the German professionals, Polish and Filipino workers also worked in the hospital. And of course Libyan workers. In one situation, Edith also spoke of a Palestinian doctor who worked there. But the Polish and Filipino workers were different from the German professionals: they all had individual contracts.[12] Edith told me vividly that they often partied together with the Filipinos during their work in Zawia. So you could escape from the work and the activity by spending time together with your colleagues in the evenings.
Contacts were also quickly made through the mutual exchange of food: if the Germans gave the Filipinos chocolate Santas, for example, they returned the favour in other ways. There was also a lively exchange of food between colleagues in the hospital. This was also true when dealing with patients in the hospital. Especially when the supply situation in Libya worsened, people resorted to exchanging food. Edith reported that she and her colleagues made bread, cakes and alcohol in their accommodation.[13]
(Un-) freedom in Libya?
Another kind of (un-)freedom did not begin in Libya. It began even before that, on the territory of the GDR. My interview partner Edith was asked to work in the hospital. As a normal midwife, she was appointed to the administration during working hours. There was no open advertisement for the position at the hospital. The decision was made internally beforehand, as Edith’s statement also makes clear: “There you were appointed to the administration and then it was said to you: ‘So we have to provide someone for Libya again and we chose you this time. Yes, or no?”[14]
Transport and arrival in Libya were also in the hands of the GDR. The skilled workers were flown to Libya via the state airline “Interflug”. They went to Libya via Malta. There they were immediately met at Tripoli airport by German members of the hospital staff and driven in their own buses to the hospital in Zawia. During this time, the participants were not allowed to move around individually. Chaperones were assigned for this purpose. At the same time, however, there was a fear of informers in their own ranks.[15] This applied to the flight, but also during the stay in the hospital.
End of an engagement in Qaddafi’s Libya
In the end, the German skilled workers were withdrawn for financial reasons in 1988: Libya had become insolvent towards its foreign experts and now wanted to transfer their salaries to them and the GDR. Edith reported that Filipino workers in particular had not been paid for months and now it was the turn of the German workers. Because of this, the workers were withdrawn and did not return. The GDR system collapsed at the end of 1989/1990 and the chapter of sending East German professionals to socialist countries was history. As an individual person, Edith did not have the option of staying in Libya but was withdrawn as part of the collective in February 1988.[16] Which she did not want anyway, as she located her centre of life in Germany.[17]
Conclusion
In conclusion, the aspect of freedom is difficult to locate. Is it personal freedom or general freedom. If the life of the GDR citizens in Libya was different than at home and if they had more opportunities at their disposal, one has to ask about the implementation: it is difficult to describe the work in Libya as freedom across the board. Perhaps it wa
s a kind of certain freedom for the individual, because certain freedoms were open to him there. And of course it also offered spaces and opportunities that would otherwise not have been possible in the GDR. Libya as a state with a wide area is by far larger than the GDR. Perhaps wide landscapes were triggered in the GDR citizens, who only knew a concentrated and heavily monitored country. Nevertheless, these trips were also not made individually, but in a group.
Working in Zawia, however, did not mean having freedom. Professionals in the GDR were recruited in the hospitals. According to Edith’s example, they were called into the administration during their working hours and given a choice. Edith also often described her acceptance as a “voluntary must”, because at first glance she could refuse this offer. At second glance, however, she was not really free to refuse the offer. The fear of being socially disadvantaged because of the decision was too great. The fear was also too great that her daughter would subsequently be disadvantaged because of her decision.
Although she was granted individual freedoms, a basic problem remained: as an unmarried woman, Edith could not take her daughter to Zawia. Whereas married doctors could go to Libya with their families, Edith had to subordinate her work to her personal freedom. This meant leaving her daughter behind in the GDR and giving her to relatives. And suppressing one of the most important freedoms.
[1] cf. Schenck, Marcia: „Migration between the Peoples’ Republics of Angola and Mozambique, and the German Democratic Republic“
[2] cf. Bahr, Katrin: Postkoloniale Solidarität, p. 3.
[3] Doering, Hans-Joachim: „Es geht um unsere Existenz“, p. 76.
[4] http://library.fes.de/gmh/main/pdf-files/gmh/1986/1986-07-a-410.pdf
[5] Alternative Globalization. Eastern Europe and the Postcolonial World, Indiana 2020.
[5] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[6] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[7] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[8] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[9] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[10] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[11] https://www.bpb.de/themen/deutschlandarchiv/53573/das-reisebuero-der-ddr/?p=0 [last seen: 21.05.2022].
[12] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[13] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[14] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[15] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[16] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
[17] Note: Lorenz Meiß’, interview by the author, Halberstadt, Germany, June 13, 2022.
