Life in the forbidden zone at the East/West German border (249)

Cold War Conversations

Ian Sanders

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.8 • 758 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2022

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A young Claudia Bierschenk lived at the edge of a world called the GDR, in a village surrounded by hills, valleys and thick forests. Her great uncle lives in the Forbidden Zone, the area where the East German border is a few metres away from West Germany. This is where the villages are like ghosts towns and inhabitants need special permits to enter. Claudia provides a vivid and unique description of entering the Forbidden Zone for the first time after being granted special permits to visit her Great Uncle on his 80th birthday. His house is the last house before the final border fences and Claudia describes up close to the fences, while her grandfather tells her about “rabbit discos”… We also hear more of her life in this isolated area, including strange sports activities and Claudia’s experience of being trained as a 12-year-old Para medic. We end the episode talking about how she and her family experienced the momentous events of 1989 when the border opens, and East Germans are free to cross into West Germany. Claudia has distilled these stories into a book, Never Mind, Comrade, published by Tangerine Press Don’t miss our previous episode with Claudia here https://pod.fo/e/137f1e 0:00 Introduction 1:00 Life and experiences in East Germany featuring Claudia Biashek 10:07 Claudia's family history during World War 2 17:10 Claudia's journey to the restricted zone and first sight of the Berlin Wall 25:35 Claudia's family decision to emigrate and the fears associated 34:35 Claudia's experience during the opening of the borders and crossing into the West 44:27 Adaptation to life in the West 46:00 Introduction to Claudia's book, "Nevermind Comrade" 46:24 Acknowledging financial supporters of the podcast 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 financial contribution is not your cup of tea, then you can still help us by leaving written reviews wherever you listen to us as well as sharing us on social media. It really helps us get new guests on the show. I am delighted to welcome Claudia to our Cold War conversation… Enter the draw to win a copy of the book here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode249/ Follow us on Twitter here https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ 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.
0:05.8	Suddenly, we came around the corner and we could see the fence and the patrol path,
0:11.9	and we just all gasped. I mean, I just, I remember I thought, wow, this, it's just,
0:19.2	over there's the West.
0:22.3	This is Cold War Conversations.
0:26.4	If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
0:33.4	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app so that you don't miss a single episode.
0:41.5	A young Claudia Beersenk lived at the end of the world called East Germany or the GDR
0:47.8	in a village surrounded by hills, valleys and thick forests.
0:52.4	A great uncle lives in the Forbidden Zone, the area where the East German border is a few
0:57.7	metres away from West Germany.
1:00.2	This is where the villages are like ghost towns and the inhabitants need special permits
1:04.8	to enter.
1:06.0	Claudia provides a vivid and unique description of entering the Forbidden Zone for the first
1:10.5	time after being granted special permits to visit her great uncle. a vivid and unique description of entering the forbidden zone for the first time
1:10.9	after being granted special permits to visit her great-uncle on his 80th birthday.
1:17.5	His house is the last house before the final border fences,
1:21.0	and Claudia describes being up close to the fences while her grandfather talks her about rabbit discos.
1:27.9	We also hear more of her life in this isolated area, including strange sports activities,
1:34.6	and Claudia's experience of being trained as a 12-year-old paramedic.
1:39.0	We end the episode talking about how she and her family experienced the momentous events of 1989
1:45.0	when the border finally opens and East Germans are free to cross into West Germany.
	...

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