Welcome to Episode 9 of Cold War Conversations.
Mark Baker is an independent journalist and travel writer who’s lived in Central Europe for more than two decades.
I heartily recommend his travel website
www.markbakerprague.com which is an eclectic mix of stories about his adopted hometown of Prague and stories from when Central Europe was the “Eastern bloc” and he was a full-time journalist trying his best to cover it.
Mark tells an intriguing and compelling story and I urge you to listen right to the end. I hope you enjoy our chat and I welcome Mark Baker. (the drawing is by Stewart K Moore and is a representation of Mark’s Czechoslovak fixer during the 1980s)
Mark’s blog is www.markbakerprague.com but https://markbakerprague.com/category/tales-from-the-past/ will take readers directly to the stories about the 1980s.
Books
William Crisp – The ex Vietnam Vet who was Mark’s boss in Vienna and wrote spy stories
Ivan Klima’s author page on Amazon:
Video
Costa Gavras drama film about the Slansky trial “The Confession”
The HBO mini-series on Jan Palach
Youtube Czechoslovak pop songs from the 1960s and ‘70s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7ZmhEGFHj8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgt7AxlC988
Milada – drama film of Milada Horáková, democratic pre-WW2 Czech politician first arrested and tried by the Nazis during the War and then the post-war Communist government for her refusal to cease her opposition activity and leave the country.