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

I recorded the last day of East Germany. The country that's dying, never seen that before,

a country that is about to vanish off the map and from history.

This is Cold War Conversations. If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts. Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app or join our emailing list at coldwarconversations.com.

Michael is a military historian, author, researcher and illustrator.

He began his career on the military magazine Battlefield's Review as a writer and illustrator

before working in the printed books department at the Imperial War Museum in London.

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So back to today's episode, Michael has a beautifully illustrated notebook from his time in East Germany,

which he has kindly allowed us to show some of his illustrations.

So don't miss those in the show notes, which can be found as a link in your podcast app.

I'm delighted to welcome Michael Patterson to our Cold War conversation.

Thank you for asking. One tea is the Scottish way. So if you remember the shortbread,

Scott Bratson's shortbread, no relation of mine. Okay, we're talking about shortbread today.

No, we're actually, we're actually here at Imperial War Museum North on the 30th anniversary, the opening of the Berlin Wall. Welcome to Cold War

conversations, Mike. Thank you very much. So let's wind the clock back from today and tell me why were you in Berlin in September

1989? What brought you to Berlin?

Entirely, I was there by accident. I was visiting a lady who's now my wife. I was visiting

her parents who lived in Charlottenburg in the British sector, and we were able to visit East Berlin under very, very limited circumstances.

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