Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.

My dad's direct commander, he shot himself.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, he said, like, I can't.

My life is, I'm loyal to the party, I'm loyal to my country, but now I'm actually nobody.

So he shot himself.

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In this episode, we continue André's story with his sometimes harrowing memories of how he

became a child refugee in West Germany.

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So back to today's episode, Andre starts with the gradual building of unrest in East

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