A Cold War Romance (82)

09/27/19 • 69 min

1 Listener

In 1986 GDR student Antje met a British guy who was installing sewing machines in the hosiery companies in East Germany. Unusually he was given quite a bit of freedom to socialise locally and he eventually asked Antje to marry him. However, with her prospective husband being a citizen of the capitalist West the process was far from simple...

Now talking of the Capitalist West I’m sure you know some of our fans who are helping the podcast monthly via Patreon, so if you’d like to join this select band? Then head over to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ plus you get the sought after CWC coaster too.

Back to today’s episode, Antje describes her early life in the GDR and how romance blossomed between East & West, despite the best efforts of East German bureaucracy to thwart the union. Now the story does have somewhat of a twist towards the end so make sure you keep listening.

If you enjoyed this episode here is the other side of the coin. Genuine laugh out loud moments. "A 22 year old Briton working in East Germany (170)"

We recorded our chat at The Barbican Centre in London, so excuse any background noise, I’m delighted to welcome Antje to Cold War Conversations

Radio GDR

If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR.

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If you enjoyed this episode here is the other side of the coin. Genuine laugh out loud moments. "A 22 year old Briton working in East Germany (170)"

We recorded our chat at The Barbican Centre in London, so excuse any background noise, I’m delighted to welcome Antje to Cold War Conversations

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/

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

Previous Episode

Eyewitness to the 1991 Soviet Coup (81)

As a 24-year-old Kieran Williams was in Moscow staying with Soviet friends when the 1991 Moscow Coup occurred.

He is a Professor at Drake University in the United States and previously he taught for nine years at University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies, where he was an associate professor in politics as well as a frequent consultant to the UK Foreign Office. He is a specialist in the politics of Central and Eastern Europe, he has authored or co-authored four books, including a prize-winning account of the 1968 events in Czechoslovakia and a biography of the writer-statesman Václav Havel.

Now as I’m sure you know some of our fans who are helping the podcast financially, so if you’d like to join this select band? Then sign up to Patreon. For the price of a couple of coffees a month you help to cover the show’s increasing costs and keep us on the air, plus you get the sought after CWC coaster too.

Just go to Patreon.com/coldwarpod

Back to today’s episode, Kieran gives a rich eyewitness account of those edgy days with vivid descriptions of what he saw and felt during those tumultuous days.

I’m delighted to welcome Kieran Williams to Cold War Conversations

Do visit our show notes at https://coldwarconversations.com/episode81 These include Kieran's photos of the Coup and some amazing audio he recorded in the streets of Moscow at the time - well worth a look!

Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/

Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations

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Next Episode

Mark - Eyewitness to the events of 1989 (83)

Mark Baker was a journalist in Vienna who covered Czechoslovakia during the 1980s. In a wide ranging conversations we discuss the events of 1989 with Mark providing some vivid accounts of his experiences and how events were viewed at the time.

Just go to

https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/

Mark is now an independent journalist and travel writer who’s lived in Central Europe for more than two decades. He loves the history, literature, culture, and mystery of this often-overlooked corner of Europe, and makes his living writing articles and guidebooks about the region. Do visit his excellent Eastern Europe Blog which contains a number of Cold War stories here

Visit the show notes here

https://coldwarconversations.com/episode83/

Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/

Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations

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