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PODCAST

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Experience the Cold War like never before with Cold War Conversations — an award-winning podcast recommended by The New York Times. Each week, host Ian Sanders brings you raw, firsthand accounts from the people who lived through one of history’s most tense and transformative eras — soldiers, spies, civilians, and more. These aren’t stories from textbooks. They’re unfiltered voices from the frontlines of history — emotional, gripping, and deeply human. This is Cold War history, told from the

history documentary

All Episodes

50:54

Deputy Head of UK Mission in East Berlin - Part 1 (154)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/12/19

Colin Munro was the British Deputy Head of Mission in East Berlin from 1987 to 1990. Although the UK did not recognise East Berlin as part of the GDR in 1973 it established an Embassy “to” the GDR (not in the GDR) in East Berlin to provide a diplomatic presence. As Deputy Head of Mission Colin was effectively the Deputy Ambassador and was responsible for improving trade, ensuring correct dealings on status of Berlin and try to promote peaceful change. 0:00 Introduction and Colin Munro's roles in

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75:33

Just another day in Vietnam (153)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/12/12

In this episode we talk with Col. Keith Nightingale who served in the US military from 1965 to 1993. He completed two tours of Vietnam; the first as a Senior Advisor to a Vietnamese Ranger unit and the second as a rifle company commander in the 101st Airborne. Keith used the experience of his first tour to write ‘Just another day in Vietnam’ which gives a vivid first-hand account of a jungle operation with the South Vietnamese Rangers against the Viet Cong. UK listeners can buy Keith's book here

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87:58

With Solidarity in Gdansk in 1980 (152)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/12/05

During her first visit to Poland in 1980, Dr Jacqueline Hayden met the leading members of the free trade union ‘Solidarność’, including the future president Lech Wałęsa. As a freelance journalist at that time, she reported the events in Gdańsk in August 1980, when the shipyard workers went on strike to demand the creation of Free Trade Unions. Our chat includes some vivid descriptions of what she saw and heard at the time, it explains the problems facing the nascent free trade union as well as

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67:59

Sue Boyd - Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/11/28

Sue Boyd has been the head of Australian diplomatic missions in Fiji, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Bangladesh. She also had postings at the United Nations in New York and in the former East Germany. Sue was posted to East Germany in 1976 and tells of her work, friendships, and life as a single woman in the diplomatic community of 1970s East Berlin. She reveals the fascinating contents of her Stasi file, detailing the intense surveillance she was under as well as confirmation of some of her suspicions, but

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89:17

Cold War Royal Navy submarine missions (150)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/11/21

Today we speak with Ian Ballantyne, the author of “Hunter Killers”, also known as “Undersea Warriors” in the United States. Hunter Killers’ tells the incredible, true inside story of the Royal Navy’s Cold War beneath the waves. Buy the book and support the podcast here https://amzn.to/3jalire We talk about the forgotten role Royal Navy submarines played in the Cuban Missile Crisis while also learning the truth behind what official statements called collisions with ‘icebergs’. In addition, we cover

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63:01

Détente – the chance to end the Cold War (149)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/11/14

Today we speak with Richard Crowder, the author of “Détente – the chance to end the Cold War”. Help support the podcast buy the book here UK listeners https://amzn.to/34yNeB2 US listeners https://amzn.to/3kHU3pO Between 1968 and 1975, there was a subtle thawing of relations between East and West, for which Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev coined the name Détente. The leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union, Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev, hoped to forge a new relationship between East

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64:26

Guy Burgess and the Cambridge Spy Ring (148)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/11/07

Guy Burgess was the most important, complex, and fascinating of The Cambridge Spies, brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. An engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others, Burgess rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which he passed to his Russian handlers. In his book “Stalin’s Englishman”, Andrew Lownie

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93:45

A Childhood under the eye of the Secret Police (147)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/10/31

At 2 a.m. on 10 March 1983, 12-year-old Carmen Bugan was home alone after her father had left for Bucharest. That afternoon, Carmen returned from school to find secret police in her living room. Her father’s protest against the regime had changed her life forever. This is her story. This is one of the most powerful stories I have recorded so far. What you will hear in Carmen’s own words is an incredibly emotional story about childhood, family, spirit and humanity – do stay and listen to the end

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53:21

Don - Cold War 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fulda...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/10/23

In this second episode with Don Snedeker we talk to him about his time after his tour of Vietnam when he served in West Germany. From 1974 to 1986 Don served in a number of roles but most noticeably he was assigned to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Fulda, one of the locations where it was assumed that Warsaw Pact units would attack through. He also trained as a Foreign Area Officer specialising in Western Europe and studied at the German Armed Forces Staff College in Hamburg. From 1991 to

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55:11

Navigator aboard the Cold War Vulcan nuclear bomber...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/10/16

Barry Mullen was a Navigator Radar on the legendary Royal Air Force nuclear bomber, the Vulcan. The Navigator Radar (Nav Radar) had the responsibility for coordinating bombing from the aircraft. This role was performed entirely via instrumentation and was achieved via the ground-facing radar and the Navigation Bombing System a direct successor of the WW2 H2S system used in aircraft such as the Lancaster. This allowed accurate bombing from 57,000 feet down to an incredibly low height of 250

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57:14

1962 Berlin fiction - author interview (144)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/10/13

In this bonus episode, we talk again with Paul Grant, author of "Coercion" the fourth book about the Schultz family who live in Berlin. His books are set at the end of the Second World War and the start of the Cold War. Coercion is set in 1962 against the backdrop of the Berlin Wall while it is still barbed wire and a fragile wall. Escape attempts are frequent and these attempts are the major theme of Paul’s latest book. If you can spare it I’m asking listeners to contribute at least $3 USD per

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60:52

Don - Vietnam war Armoured Cavalry Platoon Leader (143)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/10/09

This is the first of two episodes we have following Don Snedeker’s experiences through the Cold War. In this episode, we hear about his time in Vietnam and the book he has written entitled "The Blackhorse in Vietnam: The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam and Cambodia, 1966–1972”. Don was born in Brooklyn New York but followed his Father’s postings around the globe as an ‘Army brat’. Don was commissioned into the Armour branch of the US Army in February 1969 and by December he had been posted

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60:11

In Cold War Skies – NATO and Soviet airpower 1949-89...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/10/02

Today’s episode is brought to you by Osprey publishing and we’re speaking with Michael Napier, the author of “In Cold War Skies – NATO and Soviet airpower 1949-89”. Michael also flew the Tornado during the Cold War and served during the 1980s at 14 Sqn and 31 Sqn at RAF Brüggen in West Germany where he talks about nuclear QRA, low-level training in Germany, Canada and Exercise Red Flag in the US plus lots more. His book is packed with first-hand accounts of operational flying during the Cold War

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56:40

I was a deep cover KGB spy Part 2 (141)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/09/25

This is part 2 of our chat with Jack Barsky who spent ten years as an undercover KGB agent in the United States. He is the longest surviving known member of the KGB illegals programme that operated during the Cold War. In this episode we talk about his first days in the US, his mission and how he managed build his cover enabling him to live and work as a US citizen. He honestly and candidly talks about the impact his secret life had on those closest to him and the moment of his arrest by the FBI. If

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66:06

I was a deep cover KGB spy Part 1 (140)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/09/18

If you’ve seen the TV drama series, “The Americans” you’ll be fascinated by this episode. Albrecht Dittrich was an East German graduate student and a true believer in the Communist cause when he was recruited by the KGB in 1970. He spent ten years as an undercover KGB agent in the United States. He is the longest surviving known member of the KGB illegals programme that operated during the Cold War. In this episode we talk about his first days his early life in East Germany as well as his

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85:52

Portland Spy Ring Part 2 (139)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/09/11

This is the 2nd episode with Trevor Barnes, the author of “Dead Doubles, a new book on the Portland Spy Ring, one of the most infamous espionage cases of the Cold War. The story continues with the dramatic arrest of three of the KGB spies outside the Old Vic theatre in London and the discovery of the amazing espionage career of the Krogers, the innocent-looking couple in suburbia… We also talk about the revelation that the Portland spy ring was larger than thought and that at least two members

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51:05

Portland Spy Ring Part 1 (138)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/09/04

In this episode we talk with Trevor Barnes, the author of “Dead Doubles, a new book on the Portland Spy Ring, one of the most infamous espionage cases of the Cold War. In 1960 it was discovered that crucial secrets from the world-leading submarine research base at Portland in Dorset were being stolen by a British man and his mistress. The couple were tailed by MI5 'watchers' to a covert meeting with a Canadian businessman, Gordon Lonsdale. The unsuspecting Lonsdale in turn led MI5's spycatchers to

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57:48

The Last British Commandant in Cold War West Berlin...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/08/28

This is the 2nd part of our conversation with Major General Sir Robert Corbett, KCVO, CB who was the last Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin. We join as I ask what were the British Army’s plans in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of West Berlin. We also talk about the momentous night of 9th November 1989 and a fascinating tale of a situation, which if handled differently could have sent the history of that night in a very different direction... Sir Robert also recollects his experiences

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48:52

The Last British Commandant in Cold War West Berlin...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/08/21

Major General Sir Robert Corbett, KCVO, CB was the last Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin. We start his story with the description of his first experience of Berlin as a young Army officer commanding a military train across East Germany into West Berlin just weeks after the Berlin Wall had been built. We also talk about his subsequent Army career including his interview with British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe and his early days as the Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin. If you

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78:31

Eva - A Cold War Czechoslovak Childhood (135)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2020/08/14

Born in Communist Czechoslovakia, Eva Caletkova has written an honest and unflinching account of her childhood in Bratislava. Eva’s parents were Catholics, and the communist regime began to persecute the Catholic Church right from the start in 1948. They had to hide their faith from anyone outside of their home. Eva provides us with an insightful and emotional conversation that captures her experiences of life in Communist Czechoslovakia and the resulting trauma. Do check out her book “Forgiveness &

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454 results

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