Jack Wesolek was born in East Germany in 1966. His grandfather was a member of the Red Orchestra, a Communist Anti-Nazi resistance organisation in Germany during World War 2.
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He later became Chief of the Signals Service of the Volksmarine, the East German Navy. In the 1980s an East German Army signals regiment is named after him.
Jack’s father was an actor and we discuss how accurate the depiction of East German actors is in the film “The Lives of Others”.
Aged 6 his parents divorce and Jack stays with his father and grandmother in Rostock where he learns more about his grandfather’s story, however he is separated from his brother who goes to live with his mother.
Jack has an Uncle who was captured escaping from East Germany and was bought out by West Germany in the 1970s. At a clandestine meeting in Hungary they hatch a daring plan for Jack to escape across the Inner German Border, the fortified frontier between East and West Germany.
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Radio GDR
If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR.