A Cold War US Soldier defects to East Germany (61)

A Cold War US Soldier defects to East Germany (61)

What could make a privileged 24-year-old American serving in the US Army in Germany in 1952 to swim across the Danube River to what was then the Soviet Zone? Victor Grossman who was born Stephen Wechsler but changed his name after defecting to the GDR. A child of the Depression, Grossman grew up in an environment that nurtured a commitment to left-wing causes. He continued his involvement with Communist activities as a student at Harvard in the late 1940s and after graduation, when he took jobs in factories in Buffalo, New York and tried to organize their workers. After being drafted into the US Army and fearful of his discovery as a communist Grossman ended up in GDR with other Western defectors, He was able to establish himself as a freelance journalist, lecturer and author. Travelling through East Germany he saw the failures as well as the successes of the GDR's "socialist experiment". While some of you will disagree with Victor's views, his first-hand account of his experiences is an important part of Cold War history. We start my Cold War Conversation with Victor telling us about this early life in the United States. Episode 2 is here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode69/ Radio GDR If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR. Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jaksot(453)

A US soldier at Checkpoint Charlie when the Berlin Wall opened (13)

A US soldier at Checkpoint Charlie when the Berlin Wall opened (13)

Michael Rafferty was posted to Berlin in 1988. He served in the 287th Military Police Company at Checkpoint Charlie and was there through to the historic opening of the Berlin Wall and the removal of ...

9 Kesä 20181h 16min

My Stasi file is as thick as a phone book (12)

My Stasi file is as thick as a phone book (12)

We’re chatting with Mark Reeder a musician and music producer who has been involved in the Berlin and international music scene since 1978, starting as Factory Records German representative from 1978-...

2 Kesä 20181h 11min

Observing Cold War  Armageddon (11)

Observing Cold War Armageddon (11)

Today we’re covering a British Cold War civil defence unit called the Royal Observer Corps. We’re talking to Alistair McCann who has preserved a Royal Observer Corps monitoring post as a museum in Nor...

26 Touko 20181h 3min

1960s Road Trip Across the Soviet Union (10)

1960s Road Trip Across the Soviet Union (10)

Jeremy Poynton was a 16 year old school boy in 1968 when he embarked on a memorable trip by road from Leningrad to Odessa. He vividly describes a Soviet Union still struggling with poverty and a diver...

18 Touko 201853min

Cloak & Dagger in Cold War Prague (9)

Cloak & Dagger in Cold War Prague (9)

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 eclecti...

12 Touko 20181h 17min

Warsaw Pact Armoured Fighting Vehicles (8)

Warsaw Pact Armoured Fighting Vehicles (8)

Welcome to Episode 8 of Cold War Conversations where we talk about the armoured fighting vehicles of the Warsaw Pact.   Russell Phillips has written several books on Warsaw Pact military equipment and...

7 Touko 20181h 11min

Interview with Stasi Child author - David Young (7)

Interview with Stasi Child author - David Young (7)

We speak with David Young who has written the Stasi Child - Karin Müller series of crime thrillers set in East Germany in the mid 1970s. Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ ...

5 Touko 20181h 3min

The 1953 Cold War East German Uprising with Dr Richard Millington (6)

The 1953 Cold War East German Uprising with Dr Richard Millington (6)

We talk about the relatively little known Uprising of 1953 in East Germany.  A lot of focus justifiably is on the fall of the Berlin Wall, but it can be argued that the Uprising of 1953 sowed the seed...

28 Huhti 20181h 35min

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