Discovering your husband is a KGB spy (289)
The second part of Svetlana’s story starts shortly after her arrival in West Germany with her husband Oleg who is the Chief Editor of the Russian Service of Radio Liberty a CIA-financed station beamin...
5 Mai 20231h 6min
From Soviet Latvia to the BBC Russian Service (288)
Svetlana came from a dissident Jewish family opposed to Soviet rule in Latvia. Her parents survived World War 2, but during the Stalin era two members of her family were held in the Gulags. The family...
28 Apr 202353min
Transferring from the East German Army (NVA) to the unified German Army (Bundeswehr) (287)
We continue Steffen’s story where he tells of serving in three armies – firstly, the NVA, secondly the East German Army between the first free elections and unification, and finally the unified Bundes...
21 Apr 202359min
Drafted into the East German Army (286)
Steffen was born in Karl Marx Stadt and was conscripted into the NVA (East German Army) in 1988. When he left school he started an apprenticeship in electronics learning how to build radio receivers a...
14 Apr 202352min
How Cold War Britain prepared for Nuclear War (285)
During the Cold War, the awesome power of nuclear weapons and its deadly fallout meant that every town, village and home in Britain fell under the nuclear shadow, and the threat of annihilation colour...
7 Apr 20231h 17min
Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 (284)
In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron Curtain fell, East Germany simply ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World War to the cusp of a new millennium, the GDR prese...
31 Mar 20231h 26min
A British kid transferred to a Soviet school (283)
Richard was 6 years old when he was uprooted from a school in the United States to a Soviet school 700 miles East of Moscow. In 1988 the Soviet Union was opening up following Michael Gorbachev’s poli...
25 Mar 202351min
Cold War US Army tank driver at the Iron Curtain (282)
Brian Regal entered the US Army in 1977 and served on the M60A1 tank initially as a driver. The M60A1 was America's primary main battle tank during the Cold War, with initial deployment in 1960 and co...
18 Mar 20231h 39min
