Borderlands and Battles: A Finnish Town's Cold War Story (333)

Cold War Conversations

Ian Sanders

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.8 • 758 Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2024

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Timo takes us to the remote Finnish border town of Kuusamo. He paints a vivid picture of a childhood overshadowed by his grandparent’s memories of their home lost during World War II and their proximity to the Soviet Union. As a child, he was fascinated by the invisible line that marked the end of the world— the heavily guarded border with the USSR. Timo recounts a tense encounter with border guards while visiting his grandparents, and his meeting with a Soviet escaper. He travels to Moscow and Eastern Europe as a young man which further fuels his curiosity about life on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Timo recalls the austere streets of Prague to the bureaucratic maze in Budapest and a harrowing night at the Romanian border. Timo’s book “Tanks & Roaches” is only currently available in Finnish, Estonian and Slovak but can be purchased via our episode extras page here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode333/ The fight to preserve Cold War history continues and via a simple monthly donation, you will give me the ammunition to continue to preserve Cold War history. You’ll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we welcome one-off donations via the same link. Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Love history? Check out Into History at this link https://intohistory.com/coldwarpod 00:00 Intro 01:26 Timo's early life 04:41 Timo's grandparents' experiences of World War II 08:59 Incidents of people coming over the border 08:56 Estonian man's escape 28:32 Timo's trip to Moscow with his father in 1977 32:03 Finns remaining in areas handed over to the Soviet Union 39:34 Visits to Prague, Hungary and Romania 41:34 First Impressions of Prague 43:18 The challenges of Hungarian visitor registration 45:49 Trouble getting into Romania from Hungary 54:37 Polish smugglers on the train 59:04 Timo's fascination with Estonia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
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0:30.2	Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.
0:36.5	In my youth, I remember going to the present border on the finish side, climbing up a hill where you can see the lake where my grandparents used to live.
0:48.8	And you can see the bay where the house used to be.
0:52.7	And it's a very strange feeling to see that and to know that I can
0:57.1	never visit that place. This is Cold War Conversations. If you're new here, you've come to the
1:05.5	right place for first-hand Cold War history accounts. And thanks to financial supporter Jack Wieselak for providing today's intro.
1:13.9	Make sure you hit that follow button in your podcast app so you don't miss out on future episodes.
1:21.4	Timo takes us to the remote Finnish border town of Kusamo.
1:26.1	He paints a vivid picture of a childhood
1:28.4	overshadowed by his grandparents' memories of their home
1:31.8	lost during World War II
1:33.3	and their proximity to the Soviet Union.
1:37.4	As a child, he was fascinated by the invisible line
1:41.0	that marked the end of the world
	...

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