Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times Berlin during the 1960s and 70s and Signals Intelligence (2)
Apr 1, 2018
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Arriving Days Before The Wall
- Michael arrived in West Berlin with his mother on 10 August 1961 and saw the city for only three days before the Berlin Wall went up on 13 August.
- He remembers flares lit at night during the early wall period and the intense military alert his father experienced.
Family Tradition At Monitoring Sites
- Michael was stationed at Teufelsberg's radar tower area and later worked at Marienfelde, near the border.
- His father had worked at the same monitoring site during an earlier tour, making it a family connection to signals work.
Signals Work Focused On Military Traffic
- Michael served as a Russian and Czech linguist in signals intelligence monitoring Warsaw Pact forces in East Germany.
- His unit's role was to capture military communications to analyse tactics, response times and operational behavior.