''Os Bons Colonizadores'': Cuba's Educational Mission in Angola ...

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66 C. Hatzky
celebrations on 7 December called ‘‘Día de los mártires de la revolución cubana.’’
Indeed, numerous books—mostly personal recollections—were written, and many
documentaries were commissioned. 46 A lot of works were never published or are out
of stock, and most of the films were never shown in public. Only books and films that
deal with Cuba’s military victories are still available.
Many of my interview partners presented me with their unpublished stories and
poems about Angola. They made clear to me that there is an urgent need in Cuba to
talk about Angola. Though my research was officially obstructed, my project was
unofficially met with considerable sympathy and support. For most of my
interlocutors, it was the first time that they had ever been interviewed about their
experiences in Angola. Whereas until now only memoirs of the military were
published, some cautious attempts to document the personal experiences of Cuban
civilians in Angola have begun to emerge in recent years. 47
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The article is based on a paper presented at the AEGIS European Conference on
African Studies, 11–14 July 2007 at the African Studies Center in Leiden,
The Netherlands. It is a summary of some preliminary results of my work-inprogress
postdoctoral project at the Institute of History of the University of
Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Thanks to the support of the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) I could carry out my
investigation in Cuba, Angola, Portugal and the United States between 2004 and
2006. I interviewed about 150 persons (politicians and responsible for the mission,
educationalists, civil and military cooperants, e.g., Angolan Students and Cuban
teachers). I am very grateful to my interview partners for their confidence.
REFERENCES
Báez, Luis. Secretos de Generales. La Habana: Editorial Si-Mar, 1996.
Birmingham, David. Portugal and Africa. Houndsmills: MacMillan, 1999.
———. Frontline Nationalism in Angola and Mozambique, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1992.
Burness, Donald. On the Shoulders of Martí: Cuban Literature of the Angolan War. Colorado
Springs, CO: Three Continents Press, 1995.
46 The first publication that made an attempt to investigate the impact of the mission in Angola for the
participants was Donald Burness’s On the Shoulders of Martí. He analyzes published literature and poetry by
Angolan veterans. See also Franzbach, Angola im Schnittpunkt von Afrika, Europa und Amerika.
47 In 2002 the cultural centre, Casa de Angola in La Habana, organized a competition, ‘‘Angola en la memoria’’
(‘‘Angola in the memory’’), encouraging Cuban Angola civilian and military veterans to submit artistic
contributions (such as literature, poems, diaries, paintings, and photos) that expressed their personal memory
of their stay in Angola. The response was overwhelming; several hundred contributions were submitted. This
was the prelude for Nancy Jiménez, former leading cooperant in the mission in Education in Angola, to work on
her study of the Cuban female contribution to the civil missions. It is in the process of being published, and I
am grateful to Nancy that she made her manuscript available to me: Jiménez Rodríguez, ‘‘Un combate
diferente’’ and ‘‘Mujeres sin fronteras’’.