The girl in a Cold War East German coal mine (271)

Cold War Conversations

Ian Sanders

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.8 • 758 Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1981 Marie-Claude Hawkes was an 18-year-old living in Amiens, France when she embarked on a trip to East Germany looking for adventure… Among her experiences was working in a lignite coal mine. Lignite is considered the lowest rank of coal and the most harmful coal to human health but was a major fuel source for East German power stations. Marie-Claude travelled from Paris to Leipzig on an overnight train, staying at the International Youth Camp in Borna. From there she travelled every day to work in the open lignite mine at Espenhain, about 16 miles from Leipzig. She describes working at the mine, weekends off, visits to Leipzig, Magdeburg, Weimar, and a potato peeling factory...! It’s a fascinating view of East Germany away from the capital Berlin. 0:00 Introduction and Mary Claude Hawkes' initial experiences in East Germany 2:06 Sponsor: Promotion of Cold War Conversations and listener's testimonial 4:51 Mary Claude Hawkes' journey to East Germany and arrival at the International Youth Camp 13:43 Work and life in the International Youth Camp 22:37 Leisure time: visits to Leipzig and after-work activities 25:51 Travel experiences and evening entertainment in East Germany 29:01 Political experiences and visits to various factories 33:11 Working conditions and run-in with authorities 40:01 Impressions of Magdeburg and East Berlin 44:13 Return to Paris and plans for future visits to Berlin 45:23 Sponsor: Thanks to financial supporters and invitation to join the Facebook Discussion Group 46:19 Closing remarks and mention of the Cold War Conversations store Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Cold War history is disappearing; however, a simple monthly donation will keep this podcast on the air. You’ll become part of our community 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 also welcome one-off donations via the same link. Check out the episode related photos and videos here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode271/ 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

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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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0:35.4	I remember there was an old chap there and suddenly he started saying, yeah, we're like prisoners in this country, we had birds in the cage and they will never let us out.
0:45.6	And his mates kept saying, oh, shut up, whatever his name was, you know, you can't say things like that.
0:52.7	This is Cold War Conversations. If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen
0:59.3	to first-hand Cold War history accounts. Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app or
1:05.4	join our emailing list to keep up with the latest episode.
1:11.9	In 1981, Mary Claude Hawkes was an 18-year-old living in Amiens in France when she embarked on a trip to East Germany looking for adventure.
1:23.4	Among her experiences was working in a Lignite coal mine.
1:29.5	Lignite is considered the lowest rank of coal and the most harmful coal to human health, but it was a major fuel source for
1:35.3	East German power stations. Mary Claude travelled from Paris to Leipzig on an overnight train
1:43.3	and stayed at the International youth camp in Borna.
1:47.2	From there she travelled every day to work at the open lignite mine at Espenhain, about 16 miles from
1:54.3	Leipzig. She describes working at the mine, weekends off, visits to Leipzig, Magdeburg,
2:00.5	Vimar and a potato peeling factory.
	...

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