Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times
Episodes
An RAF pilot remembers the end of the Cold War (49)
16 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we welcome back Nick Anderson who told us about his RAF service intercepting TU-95 Soviet Bear bombers over the North Sea. The sto...
Gillian - A US Student visits Cold War Poland in 1989 (48)
09 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we welcome back Gillian Cox who told us about her student trip to East Germany in 1989. In this episode the story continues with her t...
Red Reporter - Covert Correspondent for Cold War East Germany - Part 1 (47)
02 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today we speak to John Green. John Green grew up in Coventry in a communist family. After abandoning a zoology degree course after his second year at ...
The Berlin Trilogy - Author Interview (46)
26 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today we welcome author Paul Grant whose excellent Berlin trilogy is set in Berlin during World War 2 and the Cold War. Paul and I talk about the bo...
Cold War East German Army Officer at the 40th Anniversary Parade of East Germany (45)
19 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we welcome back Torsten Belger a former East German Officer. You can listen to other episodes with Torsten here https://coldwarconv...
Cold War intercepts of Soviet Aircraft with the RAF (44)
12 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Anderson is a former RAF Phantom jet fighter pilot. We discuss flying in the Cold War and in detail how the RAF would have responded to a nuc...
Cold War Conversations highlights of 2018 - a whistle stop tour (43)
05 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the Cold War Conversations History Podcast 2018 roundup and thank you to all our listeners and guests who’ve stuck with us and made the p...
Gillian - A US Student visiting Cold War East Germany (42)
29 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian Cox visited the GDR as a student in October 1989 just before the Wall came down. In this episode you will hear her eyewitness of account of wh...
Defending the Cold War Fulda Gap (41)
22 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we talk again with Neil Gussman who was an M60A1 tank commander in West Germany tasked with defending the Fulda Gap which was a key likely Warsa...
A British Journalist in Cold War East Berlin (40)
15 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Shane Whaley from the GDR Radio Podcast and Spybrary podcast and I speak with Peter Millar. Peter is an award-winning journalist who was named Foreign...
Cold War East German Army Officer Training (39)
08 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We speak with Torsten Belger who trained as an Artillery Officer in the East German Army. Torsten also runs Germandotmilitaria which is a web site...
Training to be a Cold War US Army Tank Commander (38)
01 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’re talking to Neil Gussman who trained on the M60A1 tank in the 1970s. This was the standard main battle tank of the US Army from the 1960s...
Antje - The Girl Behind The Berlin Wall (37)
24 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're talking to Antje Arnold, author of “The Girl Behind The Wall” which tells the story of a girl growing up in East Germany in the 1980s....
Life in Cold War East Germany Photography Exhibition (36)
18 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we visit the Totally East: Life in East Germany Photography Exhibition. Run-down façades, punks and ordinary workers: This exhibition shows t...
The man who owns a Cold War Soviet submarine (35)
10 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We talk with John Sutton who owns a Foxtrot class Soviet Submarine moored in the middle of the River Medway in Kent. This may seem an unlikely locatio...
Samy - Life as a West Berliner in Cold War Berlin (34)
03 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we talk with Samy who as a native West Berliner describes growing up in the city during the 1970s and 80s. He describes in detail the differenc...
Eileen - A British teacher living & working in Cold War East Berlin
26 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Eileen shares some great information with us of working & living in East Berlin, with some surprising details. She also generously reveals details ...
Eileen - A British student living in Cold War East Germany (32)
20 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we speak with Eileen Ford-Price who was British student in the GDR in the 1980s in Rostock. Before we start I’d like to thank all our Patreon ...
The Korean War in Britain (31)
12 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We speak with Doctor Grace Huxford, author of the Korean War in Britain – Citizenship, Selfhood and Forgetting. The Korean War was known as the “...
Leaving your family to go off to a nuclear war (30)
06 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave Arnold was the Chief Observer at a Royal Observer Corps nuclear monitoring post. I made a fascinating visit with Dave to the Rushton Spencer Roy...
Cold War Living History Event - The Soviet Threat (29)
29 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This episode takes place at a Living History event in and around the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker museum in deepest Cheshire in the UK. I can hear...
Cold War USAF pilot Buz Carpenter talks Vietnam recon, Skunkworks and more
21 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
USAF pilot Buz Carpenter talks about about flying reconnaissance over Vietnam, the Skunkworks where secret USAF projects were developed, his time comm...
Flying the Cold War Blackbird SR71 Spyplane (27)
15 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we are talking about the SR71 Blackbird spy plane. Only 32 Blackbirds were ever made, and they were in service from 1964-1998. The great defensi...
My father was the leader of the Soviet Union - Part 2 (26)
07 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This is part 2 of my conversation with Professor Sergei Khrushchev the son of Nikita Khrushchev who led the Soviet Union 1953 to 1964. Before we start...
My father was the leader of the Soviet Union - Part 1 (25)
02 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In part 1 of this interview we talk about Professor Khrushchev’s early years, his relationship with his father, his father’s rise to power, the 19...
Cold War West German Nuclear Monitoring System (24)
25 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
West Germany had a number of Nuclear Warning Bunkers dotted around the country similar to the Royal Observer Corps in the UK. Mirko Krumm describes th...
Gary Powers & the 1960 U2 Incident
18 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Powers' U-2 was shot down on May 1, 1960, as he flew over Soviet airspace, and after parachuting out of the plane he was captured and convicted of esp...
The Trabant car - East German icon (22)
11 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We’re talking about East German cars with Alex Goffe and Mark Mullarkey of the UK-based Wartburg Trabant IFA Club. Now I don’t think Top Gear or ...
BRIXMIS, the defence of Cold War Berlin & Rudolf Hess (21)
06 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Episode 21 of Cold War Conversations. Now I am very excited by today’s guest and we have a packed episode for you. Nigel Dunkley MBE is ...
Anke - Life as an East German teenager (20)
29 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're talking to Anke Holst was born in the GDR during the 1970s in Rostock. Anke has returned to Rostock after many years abroad and now provid...
Able Archer and the Cold War nuclear war scare of 1983 (19)
21 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're talking to Francesca Akhtar who holds a BA Hons in American Studies with 1st class honours from Canterbury Christ Christ Church Universi...
RAF Greenham Common - A history of the iconic Cold War British nuclear base.(18)
14 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The airfield is probably best known, certainly in the UK, for the controversial deployment of Ground Launched Cruise Missiles in the 1980s and the re...
Eyewitness to the Prague Spring
07 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 1968 today’s guest was 15 year old at the same school in Prague as Czech communist leader Alexander Dubček’s son. Jan Čulík provides a valua...
Mark - A US Combat Engineer in Cold War West Germany (16)
30 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’re talking to Mark Valley, host of the Livedrop espionage podcast. Mark served with the US army as a combat engineer in West Germany a...
Sabine - An East German Childhood (15)
23 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we speak to Sabine who was 13 when the Wall opened. We hear about her childhood in East Germany and gain great insight into life at the time...
The 1968 Prague Spring (14)
16 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode we return to Czechoslovakia and one of the most iconic moments of the Cold War – The Prague Spring of 1968. We have with us Lan...
A US soldier at Checkpoint Charlie when the Berlin Wall opened (13)
09 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 his...
My Stasi file is as thick as a phone book (12)
02 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Observing Cold War Armageddon (11)
26 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 R...
1960s Road Trip Across the Soviet Union (10)
18 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 Sovi...
Cloak & Dagger in Cold War Prague (9)
12 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Baker is an independent journalist and travel writer who’s lived in Central Europe for more than two decades. I heartily recommend his trav...
Warsaw Pact Armoured Fighting Vehicles (8)
07 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Episode 8 of Cold War Conversations where we talk about the armoured fighting vehicles of the Warsaw Pact. Russell Phillips has written...
Interview with Stasi Child author - David Young (7)
05 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The 1953 Cold War East German Uprising with Dr Richard Millington (6)
28 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Espionage, East Germany and Berlin with Spybrary host Shane Whaley - Part 2 (5)
20 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to episode 5 which is part 2 of our Cold War Conversation with Shane Whaley of Spybrary . Show notes at coldwarconversations.com/episode5/ ...
Espionage, East Germany and Berlin with Spybrary host Shane Whaley - Part 1 (4)
18 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to episode 4 (part 1) of Cold War Conversations. Today we’re talking about Cold War espionage, East Germany and Berlin with Spybrary host, S...
The Strange World of East German Football (3)
07 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Episode 3 of Cold War Conversations where we hear about the strange world of football in East Germany and even if you are not interested in...
Berlin during the 1960s and 70s and Signals Intelligence (2)
01 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the first full episode of Cold War Conversations where we start with a fascinating eyewitness account of Berlin during the Cold War. Mic...
Cold War Conversations trailer
24 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Experience the Cold War through the voices of the people who were there. From soldiers to spies and civilians there are hundreds of unique stories ...