Deputy Head of UK Mission in East Berlin - Part 2 (155)

Dec 26, 2020

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This is Part 2 of our conversation with Colin Munro who was the British Deputy Head of Mission in East Berlin from 1987 to 1990.

In this episode we move to the monumental events of 1989 as the GDR was wrought by internal protest prior to the opening of the Wall in Berlin. It’s a fascinating account of Colin’s contacts who were giving him insights into the eventual fall of the GDR.

0:00 Introduction and Colin Munro's views on Brezhnev

1:50 Sponsor: Listener Donations Appeal

2:28 Political situation in East Germany in 1989

10:01 Soviet embassy's uncertainty about orders to Soviet forces in East Germany

19:12 Colin Munro's personal experience during the opening of the Berlin Wall

22:30 UK government's position on German unification

30:02 The economic collapse of East Germany and the decision for a currency union

32:37 The 2+4 negotiations for German unification

35:20 The end of the Cold War and Thatcher's political career

40:27 Closing remarks and acknowledgments

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In today’s episode, Colin tells of translating for Margaret Thatcher during a phone call with Helmut Kohl, UK imports from the GDR and of a drunken Harry Tisch, the East German Trade Union leader.

We welcome Colin to our Cold War conversation…

There’s further information on this episode in our show notes, which can also be found as a link in your podcast app here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode155/

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Radio GDR

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

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