Deputy Head of UK Mission in East Berlin - Part 1 (154)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Colin Munro was the British Deputy Head of Mission in East Berlin from 1987 to 1990. Although the UK did not recognise East Berlin as part of the GDR in 1973 it established an Embassy “to” the GDR (not in the GDR) in East Berlin to provide a diplomatic presence. As Deputy Head of Mission Colin was effectively the Deputy Ambassador and was responsible for improving trade, ensuring correct dealings on status of Berlin and try to promote peaceful change. 0:00 Introduction and Colin Munro's roles in East Berlin 1:03 UK's stance on East Berlin and the GDR 2:24 Sponsor: Financial Supporters 2:42 Divided city of Berlin and its status 7:04 Colin's account of a sit-in at the embassy in East Berlin 15:31 Story of the sit-in at the Danish embassy 17:05 Trade between the UK and East Germany 26:18 Personal encounters with East German politburo members 33:01 Opening of the Hungarian border and its perception 40:56 Discussion on the unification of Germany 44:45 Show notes and appreciation of the podcast's patrons 45:37 Invitation to join the Facebook discussion group and closing remarks Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Do you know how much $3 USD is in Pounds? It’s 76 pence which equals about 20p or 75c per episode if you sign up as a monthly financial supporter of the podcast. Higher amounts are welcome too. It’s very straightforward and you can stop whenever you want. Plus monthly supporters get the sought after CWC coaster too! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If that’s not your cup of tea then leave a written reviews in Apple podcasts or share us on social media. By telling your friends you can really help the podcast grow. Back to today’s episode, Colin tells of life in the Embassy with some fascinating insights into the unique difficulties of being a diplomat in a capital city that the UK did not recognise.. 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/episode154/ 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. Radio GDR If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR. 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:06.0	Then the next visit was to Fogel and he said, well, the first thing I've got to do is to find out whether any of these people are bearers of secrets
0:17.0	who will not be allowed out under any circumstances.
0:23.4	Welcome to Cold War Conversations.
0:29.3	Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.
0:38.3	Sooner, school, even, science. one. This one. This is radio star Cacus Svadovacian
0:40.3	Ains
0:41.3	6
0:42.3	690
0:43.3	8,
0:44.3	8,
0:45.3	8,
0:46.3	3.
0:47.3	This is
0:51.3	Radio Star
0:52.3	Chequessabatia She isia. The legitimacy of occupied Czechoslovakia.
0:59.0	And I'm here to host this final program from the German Democratic Republic for you.
1:07.0	Colin Monroe was the British deputy head of mission in East Berlin from 1987 to 1990.
1:18.2	Now I need you to concentrate for this next bit.
1:21.3	The UK did not recognise East Berlin as part of the GDR.
1:27.3	However, in 1973 it it established an embassy to the GDR, not in the GDR,
1:35.1	in East Berlin to provide a diplomatic presence. As deputy head of mission, Colin was effectively
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ian Sanders, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ian Sanders and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.