Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

In early 1989 attention being paid to Albania in England by the English media because the England football team had recently travelled to Tirana for a World Cup qualifying game.  Looking for somewhere unusual to holiday Mike Innes went on 10 day tour to Albania. Arriving by air he travelled by coach, staying in the hotels which catered to foreigners and favoured party members.  If you are enjoying...

Anthony enlisted in the British Army in 1987 and after 9 months he was posted to West Berlin. He tells the story of life as a Private in Berlin from the drinking (and the fighting) to the urban warfare training in Ruhleben & Dough Boy City. We also hear of the reality of knowing that should the Cold War have turned hot his life expectancy would have been in hours.   It’s also a tale of tragedy and...

Charlie Flowers was 18 in 1988. He travelled by train across a divided Eastern Europe that was starting to show signs of the changes that manifested themselves in 1989. He shares stories of the interesting encounters he had along the way.  Now I’d like to thank some of our recent 5 star reviewers in Apple podcasts. Qwertykevboy, Fizzlepop202, simmovic, Dais28, Tim of Townsville and especially Marr...

For almost five decades, the United Kingdom made plans for a nuclear attack that never came. To help their citizens, civil servants and armed forces prepared those in power a variety of booklets, posters, and how-to guides.  Taras Young is a researcher & writer who has produced a book Nuclear War in the UK detailing much of this Cold War ephemera such as the infamous Protect and Survive guide, as...

Harry served as a soldier in the Intelligence Corps in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. His role was that of an Intelligence and Security Operator, focused on the identification of foreign and other malign activities which might undermine the effectiveness of the UK's military presence in the country. Accordingly, he had the experience of a range of security investigations and close liaison with th...

Today is a short bonus episode I recorded at the weekend while at a film showing of Dr Strangelove in a former UK Regional Seat of Government Bunker in Cheshire... The Hack Green Bunker is my local Cold War museum and a kind financial supporter of the podcast too so if you are ever in the Cheshire area of the UK I highly recommend a visit.  If you are enjoying the podcast please leave a written re...

When the Berlin Wall came down, the files of the East German secret police, the much-dreaded Stasi, were opened and read. And among the shocking stories revealed was that of the Stasi's infiltration of the Church.  The Lutheran Church was the only semi-free space in East Germany, where those who rebelled against the regime could find a way of living at least a little out of the government's grip. ...

Our guest today is Marc Voss the Founder and Executive Director of The Regimes Museum which is the culmination of an effort to collect, preserve, and archive material and artifacts from some of the most notorious regimes of the 20th century. It is both a museum and an educational institution that offers resources to scholars and students while applying lessons of the past to the present. Now I’m s...

Regional seats of government or RSGs were a UK solution to disperse the machinery of government into the provinces, where there would be a greater chance of survival after a nuclear attack. Today we speak to Andrew who was assigned a role in an RSG and details his experiences on a week long training course at the Civil Defence college at Easingwold in Yorkshire during the 1980s. There’s some chill...

What was it like to be the first western pilot to fly the most advanced Soviet fighter aircraft? At the 1989 Abbotsford Air Show, during the dying days of the Cold War, Canadian CF-18 pilot Major Bob Wade became the first Western pilot to fly a Soviet MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter aircraft. This episode tells you how he did it. Now I’m sure you are enjoying your weekly dose of Cold War history, and you’d...

What are your dreams at 18 and what happens in the next 20 years? Children of the Silent Revolution is a documentary film following a tight-knit group of classmates from Bulgaria who reveal their stories over a period of 20 years, spanning the transition from communism to democracy in their country.  It’s a powerful memoir and love letter to the filmmaker’s classmates, as well as a compelling hist...

Operation Gold (also known as Operation Stopwatch by the British) was a joint operation conducted by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the British MI6 Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in the 1950s to tap into landline communication of the Soviet Army headquarters in Berlin using a tunnel into the Soviet-occupied zone.  Steve Vogel is a veteran journalist who reported for the Wash...

John Tarver was born into a middle-class family. He joined the British Communist Party on his 18th birthday in 1948 because he felt the Soviet Union had made the most effective resistance to fascism. He worked as a party activist in Britain and made several trips to the GDR where he would get a job at Potsdam as head of the final year of studies in the English language. His 18 years’ work as a Com...

Jay Lieberman talks about his early childhood memories of the Cold War as well as his long career in the US Navy. He tells a fascinating story of how he obtained high security clearance in the US Navy and served at a number of classified command facilities including the 2nd Pentagon and the Fleet Ocean Surveillance Information Facility, at Rota, Spain. Now if this podcast was a magazine you wouldn...

And now for something completely different... today I’m chatting with listener Peter Ryan who will be turning the tables and questioning me about my Cold War story! Now, listeners, I can see you are enjoying the podcast by the increasing listener numbers so if you’d like the podcast to continue all I’m asking for a few quid or dollars a month to help keep us on the air plus you become the envy of...

Manuel Alzaga returns to the podcast after his debut in episode 57 with his experiences as US Army 18-year-old assistant artillery gunner in West Germany. He tells of his first impressions of West Germany, details of the 1982 Reforger exercise (return of forces to Germany) Exercise, as well as the life expectancy of a front line soldier on the East German border, should the Cold War had turned hot...

There’s an area near Bergen, Norway known as Isdalen (“Ice Valley”), but also nicknamed "Death Valley", due to the area's history of suicides in the Middle Ages, and more recent hiking accidents. In November 1970 a man and his two young daughters noting an unusual burning smell and to their horror discovered the charred body of a woman, located among some scree. Now if this podcast was a magazine...

We return to Ramona Reed’s account of her father, Dean Reed who was an American actor, singer, songwriter, director, and Socialist who became a huge star in Latin America and the Eastern Bloc. Now if you like the podcast you can help to support us for the price of a couple of coffees a month. You’ll be helping to cover the show’s increasing costs and keep us on the air, plus you get the sought aft...

Ramona Reed’s father was Dean Reed an American actor, singer, songwriter, director, and Socialist who became a huge star in Latin America and the Eastern Bloc. Now if you like the podcast you can help to support us for the price of a couple of coffees a month. You’ll be helping to cover the show’s increasing costs and keep us on the air, plus you get the sought after CWC coaster too. Just go to ht...

Today has been a difficult day. My Dad has just died. It was expected, but these things hit you nonetheless. He was a good father, a good man with many varied interests including art, photography, and history. All of which he passed onto me. In particular, it was history, which has ultimately resulted in this podcast. I hope my listeners will indulge me today as this episode is not about the Cold...

Alexander ‘Sasha’ Goncharov was born in Leningrad but early in this life moved to Ukraine. After leaving school he was drafted into the Soviet Military and was based in Sevastopol where he worked in Naval Aviation servicing anti-ship weapons systems. At the end of this period, Sasha decided to stay in the military to make it a full-time career. He was sent to Moscow where he trained as a full-time...

In this episode, we hear from Craig McCracken who spoke to us in episode 3. This time he tells us about the strange world of football in Cold War Romania and even if you are not interested in football it’s a fascinating chat about Cold War Romania. Craig runs the website, Beyond the Last Man, described as 20th century football writing and nostalgia in a skilled and cultured groove. He really knows...

Our interview today is with Frederick Taylor, the author of one of my favourite books on the Berlin Wall. Using official history, archive research and personal stories he has produced one of the definitive books on the Berlin Wall. BUY THE BOOK AND SUPPORT THE PODCAST HERE Now if you like the podcast you can help to support us for the price of a couple of coffees a month. You’ll be helping to cove...

We speak again with Gillian, who was our guest in episodes 42 & 48. Gillian was in Berlin the night of 9th November 1989 and describes what she saw. Now if you like the podcast you can help to support us for the price of a couple of coffees a month. You’ll be helping to cover the show’s increasing costs and keep us on the air, plus you get the sought after CWC coaster too. Just go to https://coldw...

Alastair took up a teaching post in Halle, East Germany in August 1989 and continued to work in Halle for the next 9 years, seeing the unraveling of the GDR first hand.  Now if you like the podcast you can help to support us for the price of a couple of coffees a month. You’ll be helping to cover the show’s increasing costs and keep us on the air, plus you get the sought after CWC coaster too. Jus...