Students from Sub-Saharan Africa in the Soviet Union and their experiences behind the Iron Curtain

Beginning in the 1960s, young students from the global South began coming to the Soviet Union to earn college degrees. The studies were often financed by a scholarship from the Soviet Union and included accommodation, medical care, clothing and vacations. The University of Friendship of Peoples was founded in Moscow in 1960 specifically for this purpose and renamed Patrice Lumumba University a year later. In the context of decolonization and the Cold War, the offer of free university education by the Soviet Union beginning in the 1960s was a form of "assistance" to deepen relations. It is important to note, however, that students from the global South were not simply passive actors. Their studies were an opportunity to study and live in a country that offered an ideological alternative to the former colonial powers, and a chance to shape their own careers. But what about the students who dropped out of their studies? How did they make use of their experiences behind the Iron Curtain? Based on self-testimonies of the first students in the early 1960s from sub-Saharan Africa, the study examined why the authors from the newly decolonized states studied in Moscow and what opportunities this initially offered them. Another focus was on their interpersonal relationships. The presence of young Africans, the vast majority of whom were men, led to new and dynamic relationships between Soviet citizens and African students. The students were a way for Soviet citizens to get a glimpse of the outside world. Consequently, contact with the local population could lead to friendships and romantic relationships, but it could also bring homesickness, discrimination, and racism. Finally, the reasons for dropping out of the study and the intention to publish a self-testimony for a Western audience summarize the question about the use of their experiences