Abstract: For more than ten years, from 1979 until the demise of the German Democratic Republic in 1990, the Government of Mozambique maintained a migration of thousands of workers to East Germany. The principal, albeit concealed, purpose of this migration was the servicing of the increasingly unsustainable debt incurred with the GDR. In many respects, this migration was similar to the employment of Mozambican miners in South Africa during the colonial period: characterized by a paternalistic legal and institutional framework, employment of single youths on a rotational basis, deferred payment and housing and social segregation in the host country. The implosion of the GDR led to a hasty repatriation of the Mozambican workers and to an open conflict between the returnees and the Government concerning wage and Social Security transfers, a source of grievances deemed legitimate by the workers. In order to voice their claims, they are now taking advantage of the newly established civil liberties and democratic institutions in Mozambique. This article assesses this largely ignored phenomenon of contemporary Mozambican migration by drawing upon various untapped primary sources, less accessible secondary material, and interviews with resource persons. It may also contribute to clarifying some contentious issues in the ongoing conflict.

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