Cold War Spy Stories from Eastern Europe

Today we’re talking to  Alison Lewis, a professor in German at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of several books, including one in German about love and gender in literature during Germany’s reunification and a book in German about the Stasi’s infiltration of the literary underground. We spoke to Alison in episode 71. … Read more

An East German Army Officer at the Fall of the Berlin Wall

    In this episode we hear the third and final part of Torsten Belger’s story as he tells us about his first visit to West Berlin, leaving the East German Army and life after the GDR. Before we start a quick thanks to Skjip1969, Peteyinmontreal & GDR Objectified for leaving reviews in Itunes. Do … Read more

Veteran of the Cold War Berlin Airlift – the Candy Bomber

Today I speak to 98 year old Gail Halvorsen aka “The Candy Bomber” who flew in the Berlin Airlift in 1948. The Soviets had started a 11-month land blockade against West Berlin. The blockade was broken by a massive U.S.-British airlift of vital supplies to West Berlin. Gail tells an incredible story of an iconic … Read more

Cold War fiction – The Berlin Trilogy

In this episode we welcome author Paul Grant whose excellent Berlin trilogy is set in Berlin during World War 2 and the Cold War. Before we start I’d like to thank all our Patreons who are supporting the podcast with their monthly donations starting from a £1 or a dollar. Just head over to coldwarconversations.com … Read more

Red Reporter – Covert journalist for Cold War East Germany – Part 1

  In this episode we speak to John Green. John Green grew up in Coventry. After abandoning a zoology degree course after his second year at Bristol University, he switched to Drama. In 1964 he made the adventurous move to the German Democratic Republic to study film at the National Film School in Babelsberg, near … Read more

Gillian – A US Student visiting Cold War East Germany

Gillian Cox visited the GDR as a student in October 1989 just before the Wall came down. In this episode you will hear her eyewitness of account of what she saw in East Germany on the cusp of it’s destruction. Before we start the episode I wanted to thanks everyone who is supporting the podcast … Read more

A British Journalist in Cold War East Berlin

    Today we have a joint operation where myself and Shane Whaley from the GDR Radio Podcast and Spybrary podcast speak with Peter Millar. Peter is an award winning journalist who was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year for his reporting on the dying days of the Cold War.   Now, I’m sure you’d like … Read more