Tag: Berlin Wall

Escaping the Berlin Wall

Dan Snow’s History Hit | 13 August 2021 | 0h 28m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Helena Merriman about her book Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall. Tells the story of a group who tunnelled into the eastern part of Berlin to rescue friends and relatives. The endeavour was funded and documented by an NBC film crew.

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Iain MacGregor: Checkpoint Charlie

The Book Club | 4 August 2021 | 0h 54m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Iain MacGregor about his book Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, The Berlin Wall And The Most Dangerous Place On Earth. Discusses how, and why, the Russians cut a city in half overnight; and why we let them. Describes how events in Tiananmen Square reached Friedrichstrasse. Includes a lovely story about a single British soldier looking after the Red Army that they never forgot.

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“Tear Down This Wall” At 34

Uncommon Knowledge | 17 June 2021 | 1h 06m | Listen Later | iTunes
In June 1987 Ronald Reagen urged Mikhail Gorbechev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Peter Robinson, the author of Reagan’s speech, discusses it with Jamie Fly, president and CEO of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty; William Inboden, chair of the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin; and H. R. McMaster, former national security advisor to President Trump and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Delves into the history and provenance of the speech, the reaction of the Soviets and the world to the speech, and its place in history looking back three decades later.

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