East Germany in Mozambique: Private Photographs of a Forgotten Time with Dr. Katrin Bahr

Radio GDR - East Germany Podcast

On this episode of Radio GDR the East Germany Podcast, Steve Minegar explores the lives of East Germans who, in the name of international solidarity and cooperation with fellow socialist countries, worked on behalf of the GDR in Mozambique in the 1980's. He has the distinct pleasure of being joined by Dr. Katrin Bahr, Visiting Assistant Professor of German at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Born in East Berlin, Katrin and her family spent time in Beira, Mozambique in the early 1980s where her father was assigned to a railroad company. Over the last few years she has curated photo-exhibitions in the USA, Mozambique, and Germany about everyday life experiences of East Germans in Mozambique. Katrin is the co-founder of the Third Generation Ost network in the United States, which aims to open up new perspectives and approaches on research topics focused on the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Her personal life story and the missing narratives of East Germans in the discourse around the history of the GDR motivated her to pursue a PhD in German Studies at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research topics cover post-colonial Mozambique, East German material, and visual culture, and East German memory studies.