Experiencing the Cold War via virtual reality (128)

Jun 26, 2020

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How can we go beyond the films, books, and photos to learn more about the Cold War? Films are certainly evocative and certainly inform but how can we go beyond that and immerse ourselves to see what it felt like to be there. The two technologies of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality may allow us to do this.

Robin Hardenberg is a Berlin-based filmmaker who has developed ’The Berlin Wall App’ which uses Augmented Reality to bring the drama of the division of Berlin to those who are able to walk around the City.

Patrick Furlong is Head of Factual at Remarkable TV and has produced VR content for YouTube’s Virtually History series about the Berlin Wall. These programs allow you to immerse yourself in key episodes in Berlin’s Cold War history from your own home.

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Back to today’s episode, we welcome James, Robin & Patrick to our Cold War conversation…

There’s VR videos and further information on this episode in our show notes, which can also be found as a link in your podcast app.https://coldwarconversations.com/episode128/

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0:00 Introduction and meeting with Soviet diplomat Mikhail Petrukhov

1:51 Sponsor message and request for donations

3:57 Hans de Vreij's career journey and focus on human rights and arms control

10:49 The envelope incident and potential for blackmail

16:33 Conclusion and reflections on the old-fashioned tactics of Soviet intelligence

20:14 An unusual request from a KGB agent

29:15 Understanding KGB tradecraft

35:01 Invitation to see a chemical weapons facility in the Soviet Union

53:01 Hans de Vreij's time in the Dutch Army

55:38 Closing remarks and call to action: Show notes, donations, and the Facebook discussion group

56:16 Podcast sign off by Ian Sanders

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