A UK Journalist in the Soviet Union & GDR (123)

Mark Brayne studied in Moscow 71-72, travelling the country with fellow UK students and spending silly amounts of time in the bathhouses with salted fish and very poor quality beer. He returned in 1974-75 as Reuters trainee journalist where he became very close to Andrei Sakharov, the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb and Soviet-era dissident. East Berlin was his first solo posting for Reuters, where he and his wife Jutta both sang in the East Berlin Cathedral choir for four years, including two as BBC Berlin, with the honorary status of Lieut Col. If you are enjoying the podcast please leave a written review in Apple podcasts or share us on social media. By telling your friends you can really help the podcast grow. If you can spare it I’m asking listeners to contribute $3 USD per month to help keep us on the air (larger amounts are welcome too) plus you can get a sought after CWC coaster as a monthly financial supporter of the podcast and you bask in the warm glow of knowing you helping preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Many thanks to our latest Patreons! Back to today’s episode, part 1 of three episodes with Mark and I’m sure you will find his story as equally interesting as I did...   We welcome Mark 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. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode123/ If you like what you are hearing, please leave reviews in Apple podcasts and share us on social media. If you can’t wait for next week’s episode do visit our Facebook discussion group where guests and listeners continue the Cold War Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversations in Facebook. Thank you very much for listening. It is really appreciated. Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations 0:00 Introduction and guest Mark Brayne's relationship with Andre Sakharov 8:18 Discussion on Mark Brayne's first visit to East Berlin and rowing with the Karl Marx University rowing club 14:33 Mark Brayne's experiences singing in the East Berlin Cathedral choir 22:14 Mark Brayne's sources of information in East Germany and interactions with other expatriates 28:10 Mark Brayne's scoop about East Germany purchasing VW Golfs from West Germany 31:04 Mark Brayne's memorable interview in East Germany and an incident in 1977 33:56 Transition from East Berlin to West Berlin and reflection on radio reporting 40:37 Mark Brayne's honorary status in the British military government in West Berlin 44:57 Mark Brayne's experiences with Western secret services and favourite Cold War story 51:00 Discussion on border dynamics and Mark Brayne's admiration for Germany's post-Cold War recovery 57:08 The lasting psychological impact of East Germany's Cold War experience 59:22 Episode wrap-up and thanks to listeners Chapters powered by PodcastAI✨ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices