Cold War Conversations
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Episodes
Best Episodes of Cold War Conversations
Mark All
In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists did the unthinkable: they entered the forbidden militarised zone of the Iron Curtain - and held a picnic.Word had spread of what was going to happen. On wisps of rumour, thousands of East German '
Steffen was born in Karl Marx Stadt and was conscripted into the NVA (East German Army) in 1988.When he left school he started an apprenticeship in electronics learning how to build radio receivers at REMA, a then-famous producer of HiFi equip
John Andrews joined the Royal Navy in 1981 and went on to serve aboard the HMS Repulse, one of the UK’s Polaris nuclear missile submarines from 1982.His role was Missile Compartment Control Patrol which included security of the nuclear missile
Henrik was born in the late 1960s near Dresden in East Germany. The area was sarcastically known as the Tal der Ahnungslosen or Valley of the Clueless, as the area generally was not able to receive TV from West Germany from the mid-to-late 1950
The race to build a British nuclear bomb sucked thousands into its vortex, who are still dealing with the effects of radiation today: veterans, widows, children, scientists and indigenous people, all subjected to fear, radiation, and experiment
In 1967 a young British professor found himself in Bucharest, Romania, under the most intriguing circumstances. Ron Mackay shares his fascinating experiences as he navigated life and teaching in a communist country. When he set foot on Romani
In the sleepy suburb of Ruislip in London during the late 1950s, life was anything but exciting for Gay Search, a 15-year-old girl. Little did she know, her mundane existence was about to be shattered by a shocking revelation that would turn he
BRIXMIS and its operations behind enemy lines continue to fascinate the listeners of Cold War Conversations. In August 2024 I was honoured to be invited to the National Army Museum in London to interview Andrew Long, the author of BRIXMIS and t
Allan Little recounts his journey from his student days in Edinburgh to working as a journalist the front lines of Cold War history in Eastern Europe and beyond.In 1989 he found himself on the night shift at the BBC’s Today programme in London
Cold War RAF pilot Jeremy Lane, shares his gripping experiences, from nuclear bombing missions to a close encounter with a UFO.He was trained to fly the Canberra aircraft on nuclear bombing missions and describes how the American weaponry they
In this riveting account, Tilo recounts his experiences as an East German soldier during the final months of East Germany.He details the rising political awareness among soldiers, and his fear that his unit will be asked to shoot on demonstrat
Luca Trenta is an associate professor at Swansea University and has recently authored The President's Kill List: Assassination and US Foreign Policy Since 1945. We dig in detail into the contents of the book delving into the history of Cold War
Sirka offers a comprehensive exploration of life in East Germany, detailing the experiences of growing up in Neubrandenburg, the influence of the East German state and the Stasi, and the societal impacts of Mikhail Gorbachev's policies leading
Born in 1968 in East Germany Thomas had a "normal socialist" but happy childhood in a small town near Dresden. His family was viewed as exotic at that time as his mother had Hungarian citizenship which allowed her to travel to West Berlin.He w
This is part two of Henrik’s story. You can hear the first part in episode 307. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode307It’s the late 1980s and Henrik and his friends plan to escape from East Germany via Czechoslovakia.Henrik provides a ve
Honecker emerged as an ambitious political player and became the shadowy mastermind behind the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, a crucial moment in twentieth-century history.Author Nathan Morley brings to life the story of the longtime
In February 1983 US soldier Manuel Alzager was sent to a mysterious posting to the British Zone in the north of West Germany a long way from the main US forces in southern Germany.After a lengthy journey, he is picked up by a West German priva
We continue Steffen’s story where he tells of serving in three armies – firstly, the NVA, secondly the East German Army between the first free elections and unification, and finally the unified Bundeswehr. We start the episode in the Autumn o
In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron Curtain fell, East Germany simply ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World War to the cusp of a new millennium, the GDR presented a radically different German identity t
Richard was 6 years old when he was uprooted from a school in the United States to a Soviet school 700 miles East of Moscow. In 1988 the Soviet Union was opening up following Michael Gorbachev’s policy of Perestroika and American firms began l
We return to Dirk’s story from episode 278 with a move to East Berlin following his mother’s divorce from his father.Dirk finds school life more relaxed where pupils are allowed to wear Western clothing and to speak more openly, even question
On 10 February 1962, Gary Powers, the American pilot whose U2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace, was released on “The Bridge in Spies” in Berlin by his captors in exchange for one Colonel Rudolf Abel, aka Vilyam Fisher - one of the mos
Lt Col. Stephen Harrison, MBE served for two years as a full-time Touring Officer with BRIXMIS. These Tours were hazardous three man, vehicle-borne patrols collecting intelligence on the Warsaw Pact forces in East Germany for up to five days an
A young Claudia Bierschenk lived in a village surrounded by hills, valleys and thick forests at the edge of a world called the GDR. It could be beautiful, but the Iron Curtain runs through it, like a tectonic plate separating East and West and
Paul continues his story with his recruitment into the Army Air Corps. It’s initially delayed with a tour providing airfield repair in West Germany and then the Falklands, but finally, he’s at training at Middle Wallop, the home of the Army Air
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