My father was Cold War Stasi spy Werner Stiller (134)

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

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2020

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Werner Stiller’s spectacular defection to the West in 1979 inflicted one of the Cold War’s most serious blows to the Stasi. At the time he was working as a case officer for the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance, the Stasi’s foreign intelligence division, where he was in charge of scientific espionage in the West. We speak with Stiller’s son Andy, who although he was 11 months old at the time of his father’s defection met his father in later life. Also included is Scott Calonico, who is producing a documentary film with Andy, covering his father’s abandonment of his family and his country, as well as the story of a young man and his journey to discover the man who was his father, the spy… 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 us grow the number of listeners. If you can spare it I’m asking listeners to contribute at least $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/ We welcome filmmaker Scott Calonico and Andy 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/episode134/ 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 – goodbye. 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 0:00 Introduction and backstory of Scott and Andy 0:54 The story of Werner Stiller, Andy's father, and his defection 2:24 Request for listener donations 4:41 Werner's role in East German intelligence services and his motivations 10:35 Examination of Werner's personal life and its impact on his career 14:28 Werner's contact with the BND and his attempts to escape 30:10 Werner's final escape to West Berlin and its aftermath 34:11 Revealing of Marcus Wolf's identity and the aftermath of Werner's defection 41:13 Andy's discovery of his father's past and their relationship post-defection 54:57 Discoveries from the Stasi archives and plans for Scott's documentary 1:00:16 Closing remarks and promotion of Cold War conversations on Facebook Chapters powered by PodcastAI✨ 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.
0:05.9	And then one night we went out to the pub afterwards, and we're all sitting around talking about what our dads did.
0:12.1	And since we were all in marketing, most of our dads weren't to marketing.
0:15.5	And then the discussion got around to Andy, and Andy was like, my dad used to be a spy.
0:22.4	This is Cold War Conversations. If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to
0:29.3	first-hand Cold War history accounts. Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app or join
0:35.5	our emailing list at cold warconversations.com.
0:41.4	Werner Stiller's spectacular defection to the West in 1979
0:45.8	inflicted one of the Cold War's most serious blows to the Starzy.
0:50.6	At the time he was working as a case officer for the main directorate for reconnaissance,
0:56.0	the Stasi's Foreign Intelligence Division, where he was in charge of scientific espionage in the West.
1:02.9	We speak with still a son, Andy, who although he was 11 months old at the time of his father's defection,
1:09.6	met his father in later life. Also included in
1:14.1	this interview is Scott Kalaniko, who is producing a documentary film with Andy, covering his father's
1:20.7	abandonment of his family in his country, as well as the story of a young man in his journey
1:26.0	to discover the man who was his father,
1:28.7	the spy.
1:30.4	If you are enjoying the podcast, please leave a written review in Apple Podcasts or share us on social media.
1:37.6	You can really help us get new guests.
1:40.7	If you can spare it, I'm also asking listeners to contribute at least three US dollars per month to help keep us on the air.
1:48.3	Larger amounts are always welcome.
1:51.0	And you get the sought after Cold War Conversations drinks coaster.
	...

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