The Things They've Seen - Reflections on WWII and the Cold War by German Eyewitnesses, with Daniel Burghard

I often speak about what a privilege it is to preserve the stories of the past, many of which are disappearing quickly, through this podcast. You our contributors and listeners are truly helping us to advance that mission. In today's episode of Radio GDR, I'm honored to be joined by teacher and author Daniel Burghard all the way from Berlin who with his book The Things They've Seen - Reflections on WWII and the Cold War by German Eyewitnesses fulfills our common mission as he captures the stories of people who experienced the great political whiplash of living through the tail end of WWII and Nazi Germany and the Communist regime of the GDR. The interviews he conducted are moving - his subjects tell stories of how they ran from Allied bombs, spent time in a Stasi prison, worked to fulfill dreams of living in the GDR even in the midst its great brain drain and dealt with the effects of the Berlin Wall's construction on their family. How these people confront the scars of their past moved Daniel, and I could feel his sense of empathy as he described what he learned from them. We have the privilege of having three interviews in one today - let's hear from Daniel about three of the people with whom he spoke and what he learned about how they survived one of the most tumultuous times in modern history.

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