The West Berlin village surrounded by the Berlin Wall (220)
When the Cold War split Berlin in half, between East and West, one neighbourhood was trapped in the middle and became a symbol of Cold War tensions. For more than twenty years, the hamlet of Steinstü...
5 Feb 20221h 11min
Tales of a West German football fan in the Soviet bloc (219)
You will remember Karl-Heinz from our episode 218 where he talked about being a signaller on the West German destroyer "Hamburg" in the late 70s. Today we follow his post navy life as a travelling su...
29 Jan 202237min
Serving on the West German destroyer "Hamburg" (218)
Karl-Heinz served in the Bundesmarine as a Signalman on the West German destroyer "Hamburg" in the late 70s. He talks of his training, his role and shares details of manoeuvres in the North Sea and B...
22 Jan 202236min
The CIA director responsible for creating spy devices (217)
After service in the US Army during the Vietnam War Bob Wallace was recruited into the CIA. In the CIA his initial assignments were as a field case officer. He rose through the ranks at the agency an...
15 Jan 20221h 7min
Vietnam War draftee to US Army Rangers (216)
Bob Wallace joined the US Army in 1968 as a reluctant conscript. He describes the draft process, and his attempts to avoid conscription. After basic training, Bob is assigned to a long range reconnai...
8 Jan 202253min
Helping the Refuseniks (215)
Refusenik was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union and oth...
1 Jan 202249min
Eyewitness to the 1991 Soviet Coup with Brett Elliott (214)
Today’s episode is different. Brett Elliott died earlier this year and I was contacted by his ex-wife Polly who offered me a cassette tape. Polly and Brett had met in college and got to know each ot...
25 Des 202150min
Working in the nuclear missile compartment of a Cold War Royal Navy Polaris submarine (213)
John Andrews joined the Royal Navy in 1981 and went on to serve aboard the HMS Repulse, one of the UK’s Polaris nuclear missile submarines from 1982. His role was Missile Compartment Control Patrol wh...
18 Des 202147min
